ULM Tennis Anxious to Begin Spring Season
MONROE, La. -- The ULM women's tennis program will begin its spring season on Sunday when Central Arkansas visits Monroe. Head Coach Terrence De Jongh is in his seventh season at the helm and the Warhawks look to build upon last season's success. De Jongh is 77-46 in his six seasons at ULM.
Last spring, ULM went 15-4 including a first round Sun Belt Tournament victory over Western Kentucky. The Warhawks collected eight points towards the Sun Belt Vic Bubas Cup All-Sports Award, the most of any ULM program for the second straight year. In 2009-10, ULM collected 11 points towards the award.
Medy Blankvoort led the way going 16-1 and collecting All-Sun Belt honors. Sophie Rufyikiri went 9-9 playing mostly at No. 1 singles.
ULM will also count on the experience of sophomores Silvia Tumova (11-5) and Ema Turudija (11-2). Newcomers Justyna Krol and Iris Van Leeuwen had strong fall campaigns.
Freshman Petra Horakova joins the program at semester and will look to see action this spring.
Following a strong fall season, Coach De Jongh sat down with ULM Media Relations to discuss the team and the upcoming season.
Fall Recap
"I thought we had a solid fall. In
singles, we pretty much dominated all the tournaments we went to. We had both
returners and newcomers winning their flights. The only tournament we struggled
somewhat was the ITA Southern Regional but we were playing some of the top
talent in the country."
"Doubles is something we are working on improving. We had some sparks in the fall but we could not find consistent play and need to find teams we can count on this spring."
Spring Schedule
"It is always a challenge to put together a spring schedule because we do not
have a Sun Belt schedule so it is entirely open. As of right now, we have one
nationally ranked program in North Texas and solid programs like Texas State,
Middle Tennessee and Northwestern State. We have a balanced schedule and I look
forward to the challenge."
International Roster
"I look at it this way; I have a larger pool to recruit from. I look at both
local and international student-athletes but it just happens this season we
have an all-international roster."
Goals
"I tell the girls that we need to take care of all of our home matches. That is
how you build the fan base around the school and create some excitement in the
community. Next, we want to win all the Sun Belt matches as a way to prepare for
the conference tournament. If you can take care of those two parts of the
schedule you are at 60% to 70% of your spring season."
Outlook
"We have good returning players and solid newcomers but we do not have a senior
and just one junior, so we are very young. At the same time, we have players
that can do some damage in the spring."
Sun Belt Conference Tournament
"A challenge will be the changes in the Sun Belt as far as members go. We might
be facing teams we have never seen before. We have had some good programs leave,
like Denver but some solid programs will be joining. For example, Georgia State
has always been a strong program. What I
always want is to be towards the top five programs, because then you have the
opportunity to push towards a title."
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