Hd Sports News: Women's tennis changes focus to upcoming spring season

Netters have 16 home matches in 2018

@MTAthletics

12/7/2017 9:30:00 AM

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – After six fall events and four netters getting in the win column nine times this fall, Middle Tennessee’s women’s tennis team has turned its focus to the spring 2018 schedule.

“I think that we were better as a team this fall than we ever have been across the board,” MT head coach Charlie Ramsay said. “We didn’t have any big let-downs, and everybody on the team had a highlight this fall.”

As a team, the Blue Raiders were 50-41 in singles play and 21-19 in doubles. Kim Kermet owned a 9-6 singles mark in her first fall as a Blue Raider, and Marta Peris Herrero was also 9-6. Costanza Magazzini and Luisa Zirilli boasted a record of 9-7 in the fall season.

In doubles action this fall, Magazzini paired with Lidia Burrows to win a team-best six matches in 10 attempts, and the combination of Zirilli and Peris trailed closely behind with a 4-1 mark for the fall. Zirilli also won all three matches she played with Maria Josefina Zehnder, which pulled her individual doubles record to 10-4, best on the team.

“I credit the improvement in doubles to a combination of us investing a little more time in practice and the girls defining their identity as a doubles team amongst themselves. The things we asked them to do they slowly got better at, but the best news is that the ceiling is still so high on our doubles play. Our best doubles is way ahead of us,” Ramsay added.

Looking ahead to the spring season, Blue Raider fans will have 16 opportunities to catch their team in action at the Adams Tennis Complex, with the season opener scheduled for Jan. 14 against Belmont and Austin Peay. Matches against Louisville (Feb. 2), Western Kentucky (March 25), FIU (April 6), and Marshall (April 7) headline the home slate in 2018.

“Our home schedule is super exciting,” Ramsay said. “We’re also excited to have some depth this season. This will be the first year that I’ve been here that we’ve had that luxury. We’ve gone through every game on our schedule, and the bottom of our lineup is better on paper than almost all the teams we’ll play.”

Follow the Blue Raiders on social media, @MT_WomensTennis on Twitter and MTSU Women’s Tennis on Facebook, for the latest updates and information on the team throughout the season.