Women’s Tennis picked sixth in NAC preseason poll, opens Saturday vs. Sage
North Adams, MA- The MCLA Women's Tennis team has been selected to finish sixth in the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) preseason poll. The league's head coaches voted defending champion Husson University to repeat their success of a year ago. The Eagles are followed in the poll by Lesley University, NVU-Johnson, NVU-Lyndon, conference newcomer SUNY Delhi, MCLA and Thomas College.
After a year hiatus MCLA Women's Tennis is back and set to kick-off their 2019 campaign this Saturday as it hosts Sage College at 11 AM at the Zavattaro Athletic Complex. It will be the first of seven home matches this season for the Trailblazers as they look to qualify for the NAC post season tournament as they did in 2017.
Following the trip to West Hartford to take on the University of Saint Joseph's (September 3rd) the Trailblazers return home for a four match home stand which features three conference opponents (Thomas September 7th), Husson (September 8th) and SUNY Delhi (September 17th) and Worcester State (September 12th).
After visiting NAC foe Leslie University (September 21st) the final four regular season matches will see the Trailblazers facing off against NVU Lyndon and NVU Lyndon twice each.
NVU Lyndon (September 25th) and NVU Johnson (October 2nd) will travel to North Adams for a pair of nonconference matches a week apart which will bookend the final weekend of NAC regular season play in which NVU Johnson (September 28th) and NVU Lyndon (September 29th) will play host to the Trailblazers.
The NAC postseason tournament will be held at the Woburn Racquet Club on Sunday, October 6th.
The Roster
Losing the two-time MCLA Women's team MVP Sam Gawron to graduation last Spring, MCLA will return only three players (Briana Higgins, Mackenna Jordan and Alyssa Keegan) from this past season's Mixed Tennis team and only one (Higgins) who played on the 2017 Women's team. Higgins earned three wins for the Mixed team while Jordan finished with two. The pair also went an impressive 6-3 in doubles play.
Promising freshmen Jessica DuPont and McKenna Clark are expected to have an immediate impact while senior Alyssa Keegan should also be a mainstay in the Trailblazer lineup.