Season Preview: Salisbury men's and women's tennis teams set to build off success

The Salisbury University men's and women's tennis teams enter the 2009 season ready to improve on last year's success. Both programs reached new heights as they recorded new win totals in '08 and finished second in the Capital Athletic Conference. The two teams combined to go 11-1 in the CAC and were a stout 18-3 at home. The teams return valuable leaders from '08 along with a new mix of fresh faces ready to tackle the CAC and a handful of nationally and regionally ranked opponents.

WOMEN'S TEAM
The SU women's tennis program had a solid '08 campaign as the Sea Gulls won a program record 16 match wins and finished second in the CAC. Salisbury faced off with perennial national powerhouse University of Mary Washington in the conference championship and came up short against the Eagles. The loss didn't stop Salisbury from posting an 8-1 home record and a month long 11 match win streak during the season. The win streak included seven shutouts. Salisbury enters the season ranked No. 9 in the Atlantic South region and will look to build off of last year's success.

In 2008, the entire starting lineup for the Salisbury University women's tennis team was selected to one of the two Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) all-conference teams. The Sea Gulls also saw their No. 1 and No. 3 doubles teams recognized as well. SU returns all of their all-conference honorees sans Hannah Parsons.

The return of talent bodes well for the maroon and gold. Halfpap will turn to three seniors to help guide this year's team. The three seniors include Lauren Bakker, Anna Marie Kable and Robyn Wendell. Kable played 15 matches last season at No. 1 singles where she went 5-10 and will compete for that same spot in '09. Wendell had a 12-5 singles record where she won seven of her final 10 matches of the season. Bakker was 5-0 in singles play as she went 4-0 at No. 6 singles.

"Playing more matches gives you an advantage," said SU coach Randy Halfpap in regards to seniority and experience. "If the talent level is similar, experience will be the determining factor in terms of close matches."

Juniors Jackie Burr (9-5 at singles last season), Kelly Fahrner (9-9) and Rachel Iosue (13-5) will help fill out the top half of SU's singles line-up. Fahrner played four matches at No. 1 singles last season and went 4-0. Burr went a combined 4-0 between No. 2-No. 4 singles. Iosue also played one match at No. 1 singles and three at No. 2 singles where she was a combined 4-0.

Also vying to break into the normal singles rotation will be junior Kristen King (9-1) and sophomore Angela Tenaglia (6-0). King won eight consecutive matches at one point last season. The other returner from last season is sophomore Julia Glanz (6-0).

SU welcomes three freshmen to the program as Carly Knox, Alix Royston and Amy Worthington will compete for playing time.

At doubles, the Sea Gulls will look to Kable and Burr to lead the way once more. Last season, the pair went 13-2 at No. 1 doubles and won eight of their final 10 matches. Fahrner and Iosue will hold down the No. 2 spot as the pair went 10-3 last season, mostly at No. 3 doubles. Wendell is another strong doubles partner as she played 17 matches last season with Parsons. She could be paired with Tenaglia this season. Also look for King to get some doubles matches under her belt along with some freshmen.

The schedule will once again test the Sea Gulls as the maroon and gold face nationally and regionally ranked teams in addition to their conference foes. The two nationally ranked teams SU will face will be No. 20 University of the South - Sewanee (March 17) and No. 6 Mary Washington (April 11) at home. The CAC tournament will begin April 19. SU will face Sewanee during its Spring Break trip to California where the Sea Gulls will also go up against La Verne, Whittier, Colorado College and Cal Lutheran in four days.

"California is going to be tough," said Halfpap. "We will play five matches in four days out there. Hopefully experience will play a big factor in the outcomes."

In the end the goal for this team is to crack the national rankings and shoot to dethrone Mary Washington from its CAC pedestal.

"The main goal we have is to get nationally ranked. Currently we are a few spots outside of being ranked and the focus of this season will be on reaching that goal," said Halfpap.

A goal within reach for a deep and experienced Sea Gull team in '09.  

MEN'S TEAM
The SU men's team finished 17-5 and a perfect 6-0 in the conference during the regular season last year. Salisbury enters the season ranked No. 23 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll and ranked No. 6 in the Atlantic South region. Last season, the Sea Gulls were ranked as high as 12th and finished the year ranked 21st.  

"Last year was a big season for us as we played 22 matches, the most we have played in a long time," said SU coach Randy Halfpap, who earned his third CAC Men's Coach of the Year last season.

All-American Brendan Kincaid moves from player to assistant coach this season after he posted a 20-6 record at singles and earned a spot in the NCAA national championship singles and doubles draw. The Sea Gulls turn to juniors Scott Burtzlaff and Evan Thomas to step-up at the top spots at singles and doubles. Burtzlaff went 16-5 at singles, 10-3 at the No. 3 spot. On doubles, Burtzlaff teamed with Kincaid and posted an 18-7 record. Thomas went 16-5 at singles, 10-3 at the No. 4 spot, last season. Thomas teamed with former Sea Gull Matthew Nicholson to form the team's No. 2 doubles where they posted a 13-3 record. Burtzlaff and Thomas will be the Sea Gulls' No. 1 doubles team this season as the pair is ranked No. 7 in the region. Burtzlaff will begin the season as SU's No. 1 singles player and is currently ranked No. 25 in the region. Thomas is slated for the No. 2 singles spot. Thomas became the first Sea Gull to be named an All-Academic Scholar-Athlete by the ITA, the governing body of collegiate tennis, since 2001.  

Sophomore David Lupinetti, last season's CAC Men's Tennis Rookie of the Year, is back and ready to step into the No. 3 singles position. Lupinetti posted a 16-4 singles record in '08 in his debut with SU. Freshman Daniel Barnas will leap into the fourth singles' position for the Sea Gulls this season. The final two spots in Salisbury's top six singles' positions include sophomore Andrew Nottage (13-1 last season in singles matches) and senior Sasha Felikson (15-7). Felikson is the lone senior on this year's squad.

Also back for the Sea Gulls is sophomores Giorgio Athans (8-1), Matt Copeland (2-4) and junior Marcus Robinson (12-2) who will add valuable experience at singles. New to the program are freshmen Corey La Bella, Curtis Quandt and Justin Smith along with newcomer sophomore Michael Rubin who will fight for playing time.

The other doubles pairs are slated to be Barnas-Nottage at No. 2 and Lupinetti-Robinson at No. 3. Barnas-Nottage are ranked No. 13 in the region.

Salisbury is slated to face seven nationally ranked teams in No. 19 Washington & Lee University (February 28), No. 11 Bowdoin (March 16), No. 30 Pomona-Pitzer (March 18), No. 27 Cal Lutheran (March 19), No. 24 Christopher Newport University (March 26), No. 10 University of Mary Washington (April 4) and No. 15 Johns Hopkins University (April 12). SU will be in California for Spring Break from March 16-19. The Sea Gulls will face Mary Washington and Johns Hopkins on back-to-back weekends at home in April. The CAC tournament will begin April 18.

"Last year we lost to No. 11 Bowdoin 6-3 and we were okay with it because to be that close with a highly ranked team says that we can play with the best teams in the country," said Halfpap, who enters his 10th season as coach at his Alma Mater. "Playing a really tough schedule last year is going to definitely help us with playing an even tougher schedule this year."

The Sea Gulls' biggest upset last season was a 5-4 win during the regular season over No. 10 Mary Washington on the road. The Eagles turned the tables on the Sea Gulls in the CAC championship as Mary Washington won the conference crown once more.

"Last year's match with Mary Washington was huge for us because it should us that we could come out on top [against them]. We know how well we have to play to beat the teams that are ahead of us," said Halfpap. "If we can be disciplined and smart, I think we can go out there and beat them again."