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Season Preview: Women's Tennis Seeking Return to Postseason Action

Abby Payson
Abby Payson

Preseason Captain's Interviews

HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's tennis team will be looking for a bounce back year after missing the conference tournament for the first time in eight seasons last spring. The Fords appear primed to do so as they lost just one senior to graduation, have added seven freshmen, and welcome several players back who were in and out of the lineup last spring.

"Our team is bringing a great energy and enthusiasm to the practice courts every day, and I think we're all excited to get out on the match courts and start competing," said first-year head coach Arik Zeevy. "The Centennial Conference looks to be quite strong this year, and our team is looking forward to the challenge ahead of us. We have an energetic, young team and I think we're going to have a lot of fun this spring."

Although that one player who the Fords have to replace is first-team All-Centennial Conference singles player Robyn Himelstein, Haverford has plenty of depth on the team looking to rise to the challenge this year. Greta Koch ranked second on the team only to Himelstein last year with nine singles victories as the primary No. 2 player. An honorable mention All-Centennial Conference singles player as a freshman, Koch also split a pair of matches last spring at No. 1.

Senior captains Abby Payson and Jessica Liu return valuable experience to the lineup. Payson has won 32 singles matches and 27 doubles matches to date in her career. She spent the majority of last season at No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles. Liu went 2-1 last year at No. 5 before missing the rest of the spring season. Despite missing most of last spring, she has won 21 doubles matches and 20 singles matches in her career. Robin Stopa is the third senior on this year's team after seeing varsity action for the first time in her career last spring.

Joining Koch in the junior class are Courtney Ahmed, Jia-Ling Tuan, and Annika Ulrich. Ahmed finished just behind Koch with a career-best eight singles victories last spring playing as high as No. 3 in the lineup. Tuan has won four singles matches in both of her first two seasons with the Fords. She also was a part of five doubles victories last year. Ulrich saw her first action in the varsity lineup last spring where she won two singles matches and one doubles match.

The sophomore class also features four players after Jane Bary transferred to Haverford this year. Bary comes to the Fords from Hamilton College where she won 13 matches. Stephany Prodromos won five matches in both singles and doubles during her first year with the program. Rory Lewis also won four matches in her freshman season as she competed solely in fall tournaments. Renata DiDonato did not see any varsity action last spring, but earned her first collegiate win at the Swarthmore Invitational this fall.

Seven freshmen join forces with the returning players in hopes of a return to the postseason. Emily Shutman was entered in the ITA Regional Championship draw where she picked up one of her two wins in the fall. Ali Morrow advanced to the finals of the Blue 6 singles as she notched four victories in singles during the fall. Freshmen Izzy Angstman and Clara Farrehi were paired for the Blue 3 doubles draw of the ITA Regional where their fall was highlighted by a run to the championship match. Other freshmen who saw just limited action in the fall include Maya Ahmed (sister of Courtney), Sophia Jackson, and Mima Khazanov.

The women's tennis season gets underway on Friday, February 24 against New York University. After that opening match, the Fords will make their annual trek to Florida during which time they will play four matches before returning north. Women's tennis is scheduled to play a total of seven home matches in the spring of 2017.