After winning its 20th CAA title in 24 years last spring, this season’s expectations and goals remain the same for the no. 24 College of William and Mary (1-2) women’s tennis program.
“[Our goal is] to win the CAAs for sure and to win our NCAA regional so that we are in the Sweet 16 in May,” first-year Head Coach Meredith Geiger-Walton said. “I feel strongly that both [senior Katarina Zoricic] and [junior] Ragini [Acharya] can make it to NCAAs in singles and in doubles.”
While lofty expectations surround this squad, the College enters the season without a vital piece of last season’s success in the form of Megan Moulton-Levy ’08. The recent graduate collected four CAA Player of the Year awards, six All-American nods, two Arthur Ashe honors and heads the Tribe’s all-time list of achievements in multiple categories. Yet this year’s leaders know there is no time to look back.
“A person of Megan’s level and just her energy and how much she brings, it is hard to fill those shoes,” Acharya said. “We are not trying so much to fill them, as develop our own. We have to move forward. And if that means developing a different type of Tribe energy, that’s what it means.”
The team turns to no. 95 Zoricic to take over the top singles spot while no. 79 Acharya and senior Klaudyna Kasztelaniec round out the top three. The Tribe adds freshmen Katie Kargl and Maria Morrissey, to a team returning six of its top seven players.
The College will be without junior Lauren Sabacinski due to injury, leaving the team with only seven members and a serious lack of depth.
“I think there is no doubt this team is going to pull together despite [only] having seven players,” Geiger-Walton said. “I think they will strive to improve that number 22 standing (as of Jan. 26) and stay within the top 20 in the country.”
