One coach, two very different teams. That’s the story of head coach Greg Munoz and this year’s men’s and women’s tennis teams.
For the men – a nationally ranked squad that barely has enough players to fill out a roster.
For the women – plenty of depth, but not quite enough firepower yet to be a conference contender.
Men’s tennis
The Colonials enter the spring season with a No. 74 national ranking and a chip on their shoulder. For the fourth straight year, GW made it to the Atlantic 10 Championship match, and for the first time in that span, they came out unsuccessfully.
A 4-3 defeat to top-seeded VCU, which, as Munoz described, “couldn’t have been much closer.”
Now, the Colonials have several other opponents targeted on their very tough schedule, including No. 24 LSU and No. 19 Wake Forest. GW will face six nationally ranked teams this season, coming off a year in which they went 4-4 against ranked opponents.
When asked how the team will find success over this tough, long calendar, junior Francisco Dias didn’t waste time with a response: The small details matter.
“Make sure you rest well, stretch after every practice; if we’re told to take ice baths, we have to take ice baths. Those little things are going to add up in the end,” he said.
This is especially true for a team that, despite adding freshman Julius Tverijonas – a Lithuanian with pro circuit experience – comes into the season with only seven players on its roster. To compete for a title, the entire roster will need to stay healthy and focused.
But the team also has a good problem: They “have four players who could play the No. 1 spot,” Dias said.
Along with Dias and Tverijonas, the men’s team boasts the No. 124 ranked singles player – Nikita Fomin – and sophomore Danil Zelenkov, who is coming off a stellar freshman campaign in which he was named A-10 Most Outstanding Rookie Performer and earned a spot on the All-Conference First Team.
It may be a small team, but it’s one that – after being picked to finish second in the A-10 – has confidence they can finish in the Top 60 and re-emerge as conference champions.
“There’s no recruiting in the spring. We are what we are,” Munoz said.
Women’s tennis
Munoz may have eight years under his belt as the men’s coach, but with the women’s team, he’s entering completely unchartered territory.
“I was prepared for the worst and I was pleasantly surprised,” Munoz said. “This is a great group of ladies, so no problems. I’ve enjoyed working with them and pushing them, and they’ve responded well.”
He inherits a team that went 11-8 last season before losing in the quarterfinals of the A-10 tournament to UMass. In the Colonials’ favor this season, though, is their depth.
Unlike the men’s team, the women boast a deep nine-player roster, led by senior Leah Pascarella and sophomore Lana Robins.
“The depth we have, we have some players that perform better outdoors, some indoors,” Munoz said. “We have all nine players that I believe will play at some point during the year, which gives us some nice options.”
Pascarella is coming off an A-10 All Conference First Team season – her third straight all-conference nod – but is hoping to close out her final year at GW with more than just individual accolades.
“Everyday we have to be really competitive with each other and work really hard,” Pascarella said. “Then in matches, we need to grind it out and don’t let any close matches slip away. Take charge of every chance we have.”
Robins enters her second year at GW as the No. 17 ITA Atlantic Region singles player, looking to improve on her 15-11 singles record from a year ago. Her strong performances earned her A-10 All Conference Second Team honors and continued into fall play, where she took down her first-ranked opponent.
The Colonials will play eight conference matches this season, so it’s likely Munoz and the team will have to wait until then to see how their deep team stacks up.
“I’ve worked with the men for a long time, and with them we’ve had our standards and goals that we keep trying to reach higher and higher,” Munoz said. “With them [the women] it’s like starting fresh and saying, ‘Okay, where can we go?’ So it’s exciting.”
