2005 Women's Tennis Outlook

01/20/05 11:40AM

- By most standards, William and Mary’s women’s tennis accomplishments last season would be classified as an unqualified success. The Tribe won its 17th Colonial Athletic Association championship and advanced to its ninth NCAA Tournament in the last 10 years. W&M recorded 20 victories for the eighth time in school history, including wins over No. 22 Illinois in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and two other victories over top 25 teams.

Tribe individuals were well-recognized with conference, regional and national accolades. Megan Muth and Amy Wei earned All-America honors by reaching the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament after claiming the ITA East Region Title in the fall. Muth was named the CAA Co-Player of the Year, CAA Tournament MVP and ITA East Region Player to Watch. W&M individuals received almost as many conference player of the week honors as the other nine CAA schools combined and four players were voted to the all-league first and second teams. All this was accomplished despite a variety of challenges in a season fraught with injuries.

“Last year was a good season for us in a lot of ways,” said head coach Kevin Epley, now in his second year at the College. “We won the CAA title, made the NCAA Tournament and won a match there as well. I couldn’t be more proud of how the team regrouped in the middle of the year, determined to make this a successful season, and then did that, entering the NCAA Tournament on an eight-match winning streak.

“Without downplaying any of last year’s achievements, we think that we can far exceed them this year. Virtually our entire team is intact from last season and if everybody can stay healthy, this could be a tremendous year for us.”

All four W&M seniors have been nationally ranked in singles or doubles the last two seasons and will provide leadership to the younger players on the team.

Kate Boomershine did not play in the fall of 2004 and also saw limited action in the spring of last season due to injury. Primarily playing No. 4 singles and No. 2 doubles when she was in the lineup, she helped the team with a number of big victories. None may have been more valuable than when she and Lena Sherbakov teamed up to aid the Tribe in clinching the doubles point against Illinois in the first round of the NCAAs.

A two-time All-CAA selection in both singles and doubles, Candice Fuchs also saw limited action last season, but quickly returned to form this fall and is expected to return to the top half of the Tribe lineup. Ranked 99th in the nation in singles at the start of the fall season, she and freshman Megan Moulton-Levy were 22nd in the preseason spring rankings after winning the 2004 ITA East Region title.

Senior Lena Sherbakov stepped up her play last season, going 23-11 in singles, including a 17-9 record at the top two spots in dual matches. She was ranked 82nd in the preseason rankings in singles and also played well in doubles this fall with a 7-1 record and two flight championships when partnered with Kristen Dunbar.

Rounding out the senior class is Amy Wei, an All-American in doubles last season with Megan Muth, after the two advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Individual Tournament. Second in the nation in the fall preseason rankings, the pair won the 2003 East Region doubles title and tied a school record with 31 wins last season. A very good singles player as well, Wei entered this season ranked 109th in the country after earning first team All-CAA honors for the second consecutive year.

Leading the junior class is Megan Muth, the CAA Co-Player of the Year last season after earning first team all-conference honors in both singles and doubles for the second straight year. Along with her All-America doubles honors with Wei, Muth was named the ITA East Region Player to Watch in 2004, and was named CAA and ITA East Region Rookie of the Year as a freshman. She opened the 2004 fall season ranked 15th in the nation in singles, backing that up with three wins over ranked opponents and two top flight finals appearances in the fall.

W&M’s other junior is Lingda Yang, who had 12 singles wins in the bottom half of the lineup last season. She opened the spring by winning eight of her first 12 matches, including a three-set victory at No. 4 to clinch the Tribe’s 4-3 win over Penn. Yang also had big singles wins later in the season, helping the Tribe record close victories over No. 23 Notre Dame in the regular season and No. 22 Illinois in the NCAA Tournament.

Sophomore Alex de Guzman had a 6-3 singles record in dual matches last year and opened the spring by winning five straight contests. In doubles, she and Yang teamed up to go 5-3 in dual matches, including victories against Wake Forest and Ohio State.

Kristen Dunbar, another sophomore, led the Tribe with a .765 winning percentage in singles matches last season and was 11-2 in dual matches. She recorded the decisive points in W&M’s wins over No. 23 Notre Dame and No. 22 Illinois in 2004 and carried that success through to the fall, winning her flight at the Kentucky Invitational. Dunbar also proved to be a solid doubles performer this fall, winning two flight titles with Sherbakov, after competing in just six doubles contests all of last season.

The Tribe’s lone rookie is Megan Moulton-Levy, a very talented player who burst onto the college scene this fall by defeating the nation’s 19th ranked singles player in the first match of her college career. She defeated four ranked players on her way to a team-best No. 33 singles ranking in the preseason spring rankings, while she and Fuchs won the ITA East Region doubles title on their way to a No. 22 national ranking.

As is the case every season, the Tribe will face one of the toughest schedules in the nation. Fifteen of W&M’s 22 opponents were ranked in the preseason ITA poll, including eight in the top 25 and four in the top 10. The Tribe’s season starts with a pair of home doubleheaders, before matches at Northwestern and Ohio State on February 11 and 12. W&M returns home the next weekend for a match against Virginia, which precedes what may be the toughest nine-day stretch of the season, in which the club will face three preseason top 10 teams. The day after hosting the Cavaliers, the Tribe hosts Clemson, ranked third at the start of the season. Three days later, the Tribe will head south for a match against preseason No. 8 Duke. The team briefly returns home, before starting its spring break trip at preseason No. 9 Tulane on March 6.

From there, the Tribe travels to Las Vegas for matches against UNLV and Penn to close out spring break. W&M plays at Wake Forest the following weekend, returning home for four matches in eight days against Maryland, South Florida, Fresno State and Virginia Tech. Road matches against Virginia Commonwealth and Notre Dame are up next, before the Green and Gold hosts CAA rival Old Dominion on April 13, the College’s final home match of the regular season. The Tribe closes out the regular season on the road the following weekend with matches at Texas and TCU.