Women's Tennis Motivated for Success in 2015

HUNTINGDON, PA- Coming off an 11-6 season that saw them qualify for the Landmark Conference Tournament for the second straight season, the Juniata women's tennis team will look to keep that streak going with another postseason run in 2015. The Eagles were selected fifth in the Landmark preseason poll and just three points behind fourth-place Moravian.

Head coach Jason Cohen is excited to see how his team performs in 2015. "This is the hardest working team I have ever coached, period," he said. Cohen touched on the rankings and their possible effects on the team, "We have goals set for this season and based on the poll results, other coaches believe we won't reach our goals," he said. "This is a team that didn't necessarily need any more motivation, but now we have it. We're going to go out there this year and prove everybody wrong, just as we have done before."

At first singles will be senior Heather Waring (San Antonio, TX/John Jay). She is a two-time First Team Landmark honoree at doubles and last season also made the Second Team in singles play.

At second singles is sophomore Rachel Yurchisin (Cleveland, OH/Padua Franciscan). In her freshman campaign, she posted a 13-7 record playing at 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th singles going a combined 8-5 at two and three.  Cohen says he has seen an improvement this year with her and is looking to see her step up.

Freshman Katharine Conklin (Freehold, NJ/Freehold Township) will be at third singles. "She has been great for us and has been very receptive to what we teach here," said Cohen. "She has played some great doubles this spring. I'm looking forward to her having some success this year."

Cohen said that the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th singles spots would all be dependent on play. Mitsuki Koh (Cupertino, CA/Monta Vista) may trade off at 3^rd and 4^th with Conklin. Samantha Hendricks (McVeytown, PA/Mifflin County) along with Cara Stough (Friendsville, MD/Northern Garrett) could see time at 5th or 6th. On Hendricks Cohen said, "I don't know if I have had a player improve drastically as she has. She has worked incredibly hard in improving her fitness and tennis ability and is going to be a huge part of our team this year."

In regards to his doubles pairing, Cohen feels very confident in what he has. Waring and Yurchisin will team up at #1, Conklin and Stough will pair at #2 and Koh and Hendricks will be at #3.

So far into their the season, the Eagles are 2-1. Despite their loss to Salisbury on February 21, Cohen thought his team played pretty well and that they came out with a lot of positives. With teams like Baldwin Wallace (March 9) and regionally ranked Rhodes College (March 10) on the docket for their spring trip to South Carolina, Cohen knows those will be tough tests for his team in preparation for Landmark competition.