George Washington University Athletics
Women's Tennis 2017 Season Outlook
1/25/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
WASHINGTON - After reaching the semifinals of the 2016 Atlantic 10 Championships, the George Washington women's tennis team is set to begin the 2017 season on Saturday.
The Colonials posted an overall 8-14 record a year ago and reached the A-10 Championship semifinals as the seventh seed after upsetting second-seeded Massachusetts under the direction of then-interim head coach Torrie Browning. Now head coach, Browning has five student-athletes from last year's squad returning - including two All-Conference selections - and welcomes a talented group of newcomers.
Sophomore Sara Grubac returns after a stand-out freshman campaign that landed her Second Team All-Conference honors. Joining the squad for the 2016 spring semester, Grubac tallied a team-high tying 11 singles wins in dual match play, competing primarily at the No. 2 spot. Grubac's fall play was shortened due to injury, but she managed a 2-2 singles record.
"Sara made a lot of improvements in the last year," said Browning. "She wasn't able to play too much in the fall, but I think she did incredibly well considering the circumstances, and I expect her to continue to improve this season and build her confidence. She's one of our best ball strikers on the team."
Junior Marie-Louise Decamps landed on the A-10 All-Academic Team as a sophomore after posting an overall 16-9 singles mark, including a 10-4 dual match record playing at the Nos. 2-5 positions. Despite battling injury throughout the spring, Decamps amassed an impressive 5-1 record against A-10 foes. The junior enters the spring after putting together an 8-5 singles mark in the fall and a 5-4 record in doubles play.
"Marie has a lot of great experience," said Browning. "This year she's going to play within our top three spots in the lineup, and I'm looking for her to be a leader on the team. She leads by example and works really hard and is going to be key for us in both singles and doubles."
GW's three newcomers are expected to make an immediate impact this spring. Sophomore Maria Siopacha embarks on her first spring in the Buff and Blue after transferring from a discontinued UMBC program, while junior Kamilla Beisenova joined the Colonials for the fall semester after two seasons at Elon. Freshman Melis Bayraktaroglu will make her dual match debut after a strong fall season.
Siopacha competed as UMBC's top singles player last season and tallied a team-best 10-4 solo record in the fall for the Colonials with a 5-5 doubles mark.
"Maria made a lot of significant improvements this year, beating some really quality players in our region," said Browning. "I'm excited for her to play in the top of the lineup and do really well. She doesn't need a lot of managing â€" she's self-sufficient on the court â€" she's a very skilled player."
Beisenova posted a solid 7-7 singles record in the fall with a 1-3 doubles record.
"Kamilla is an incredibly hard worker and I think she'll be key in our lineup," said Browning. "She's improved a lot this past fall with all the matches that we played and will continue to build her confidence. I look to see a lot of great things from her this year. She fights very hard when she plays, I think she'll be a key contributor."
Bayraktaroglu put together an impressive 8-6 record in the fall while tallying a 4-6 doubles mark.
"Melis has a lot of potential," said Browning. "She's just got to get more matches under her belt and keep focusing on playing smarter. She's got the tools and she's a really great athlete. She strikes the ball incredibly well; she's just got to use her tools at the right time. The spring season for freshmen is always a learning experience, but I think she'll do really well. She's a hard competitor, she fights really hard on the court and she doesn't like to lose."
The Colonials return seniors Taylor Nederlander and Allison Hansen, who posted 9-14 and 7-15 overall singles records, respectively, last season. As a tandem, the seniors tallied a 7-12 mark at the top spot.
"Taylor has come a long way in her career and has done a really good job this year of being more of a leader," said Browning. "She's going to be very important for us in both singles and doubles. She understands the importance of team unity and energy, so I look to her to lead that and get the team energized and pumped for matches.
"Allison is one of our best if not our best doubles player," said Browning. "She's a great vollyer, she understands doubles, she understands the game. I think she's going to be extremely important for us in doubles just for the simple fact that we can put her with anyone and she'll complement them well. She really wants to have a good last spring season and works extremely hard."
Sophomore Victoria Kogan also returns for the Colonials after tallying a solid 6-7 singles record in the fall with a 6-5 doubles mark. Kogan saw action throughout the bottom half of the singles ladder last spring.
"Vicky has also improved a lot over the past year," said Browning. "She's going to be key for us in doubles. She's effective around the net and is really quick. She works extremely hard and I'm looking forward to building her confidence and using her athleticism to win matches."
The Colonials look to continue their upward trajectory with another strong spring season.
"Our first goal is to win A-10s," said Browning. "Each season has its ups and downs, but I think we're in a really good place as a team this year. I think we're stronger this season and we've added a lot of key components and have a lot of key returners back with us. I think we can make a run for the A-10 title, but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We want to take each weekend, each match, as it comes. If we're really supporting each other I think great things can happen. One of the reasons we did so well last year was that we were playing for each other and that energy shows."
GW will face an early challenge on Sunday when the Colonials take on Davidson on the road. One of the top teams in the conference, Davidson defeated the Buff and Blue in the A-10 semifinal last season.
"I think we are a better team than we were last year, and since Davidson did make the final, that will be a good benchmark to see where we are early in the season," said Browning. "It's a good way to see where we're at, what we need to work on and what we're doing well."
The Colonials first visit UNC-Charlotte on Saturday before visiting Davidson on Sunday in the season's opening weekend.
Players Mentioned
