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2001 Season Outlook The Cedarville University women's tennis team would love nothing more than to continue the momentum created at the end of last year's memorable season. The Lady Jackets stunned six-time defending American Mideast Conference champion Walsh on their courts for the NAIA Region IX championship. That result sent them to the NAIA Nationals where they finished up a 12-6 season. Three seniors, who each was a two-time NAIA All-America Scholar-Athlete, were part of that squad. The trio had a combined career singles record of 120-43 and a combined doubles mark of 38-6 last year alone. That's a lot of experience that departed through graduation. Longtime head coach Pam Johnson, who is in her 25th season, has been here before. No one understands more than her as to what it takes to develop a winner. "While we were deep with experience last year, this group is very young," remarked Johnson, who has a 184-95 career dual match record. "We may be unpredictable, but our success will depend upon how quickly our newcomers adjust to collegiate tennis. "Most of them have had three to four years of high school experience and they are eager to learn. We have plenty of question marks, but we are anxious to see what the answers are." There are five returning athletes to the 12-player roster. The short list includes seniors Jenny Elliott and Alison Warren, junior Amy Gregory, and sophomores Elissa Dvorak and Jen Roman. Gregory has the most varsity experience among the returnees with a 22-11 career singles record. She was 8-8 at the #3 spot last year and 14-3 in the #4 position as a freshman. Gregory was voted to the All-AMC Team in doubles after joining graduated senior Casey Ruffin for a 13-4 record as the #1 duo. Roman stepped right into the #6 singles position as a freshman and produced a 12-4 record. She is one of a pair of two-sport standouts on the squad and made the All-AMC Team in cross country last fall as a member of CU's NAIA nationally-ranked program. Elliott is in her fourth season with the tennis program. She has a 10-4 career singles record with most of that experience coming in 1999 when she held down the #6 position. Warren is a four-year student at Cedarville, who is in her second season of playing tennis. She won both varsity singles matches she played in last spring. Dvorak was 3-0 in varsity singles during her rookie season. Seven first-year players will be seeking varsity playing time. That group includes sophomore Diana Locke as well as freshmen Lindsay Engelmann, Bethany Fegley, Carrie Hartman, Sara Lambers, Amanda Olsen, and Sarah Rogers. Hartman, who played in every match for CU's 29-14 volleyball team in the fall, follows the footsteps of older sisters Angela and Melissa, who were both former #1 singles players for Johnson. The NAIA Region IX Tournament moves to Cedarville this May 3-5 with the winner advancing to the national tournament. The Lady Jackets will host ten dual matches including dates with NCAA Division I Dayton as well as AMC foes Walsh, Malone, and Tiffin. | ||||
