GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The spring season for the Tusculum University women's tennis team begins on Wednesday afternoon when the Pioneers host Lee University at the Nichols Tennis Complex.
The Pioneers, who went 2-0 in the fall, have eight returnees from last season including all six starters in singles play. Second-year head coach Matt Frost welcomes the addition of three freshmen to this year's roster, after the Pioneers went 13-7 overall and 8-4 in the South Atlantic Conference last season.
Nearly the entire Tusculum roster is made up of players with two years or less of college experience, with a trio of sophomores leading the lineup in Tabitha Howe, Leonie Floeth and Elodie Baechler.
Howe, a second-team All-SAC selection last season, went 12-9 for the Pioneers in singles and earned seven doubles wins as a freshman. This season, the Sevenoaks, England native already has six doubles wins heading into the spring and has a 2-6 record in singles play.
Floeth, who hails from Toenisvorst, Germany, went 15-14 in singles and 16-11 in doubles as a freshman and was named third-team preseason All-SAC in singles. Floeth is 7-3 in both singles and doubles entering the spring campaign.
Baechler (La Rippe, Switzerland) earned 10 singles victories last season while playing nearly exclusively at flight one, and had 11 victories in doubles play. Baechler, who along with Howe were first-team preseason All-SAC in doubles, has a 4-2 record in both singles and doubles heading into the spring season.
Juniors Valentina Loretz and Paulina Loretz each won 19 matches in singles play last season for the Pioneers, with Valentina off to a 9-2 start in singles this year and Paulina with a 6-3 record. The sisters from San Mateo Atenco, Mexico have also excelled in doubles, with Paulina holding a career record of 34-18 and Valentina a 24-10 mark.
Junior Johanna Palacio (Mar del Plata, Argentina) was 12-9 in singles for the Pioneers last season and has a career singles record of 16-14, along with five doubles wins.
Tusculum's two seniors are Rory Church (Kennesaw, Ga.) and Chelsea Daugherty (Mosheim, Tenn.), with Church claiming 14 singles victories and 16 doubles wins in her first three seasons. Daugherty has played five singles matches and four doubles contests in her Tusculum career.
Freshman Ylva Frafjord Landa (Sandnes, Norway) compiled a 5-4 record in singles and went 6-2 in doubles during the fall for the Pioneers, with freshmen Erin Laubscher (Cape Town, South Africa) and Ella Boddington (Ravenshead, England) awaiting their Pioneer debuts this spring.
Tusculum will play its SAC opener against Mars Hill on Thursday, February 16 and wraps up the regular season on Thursday, April 13 at Catawba.
