There were many people questioning whether there would be a tennis season this year or not a few months ago. That question has since been answered as Eric Houston has stepped in as the interim head coach for the mens and womens teams this season. Houston also coaches the women’s basketball team at Eastern University.
For the past couple of weeks the Eagles have been practicing indoors to try to be as prepared as possible for the approaching season. Their opener is against Rutgers-Camden on Friday March 11, 2022. The Eagles will be away for their opening match and out of the 12 matches they have for the season, only four will be played at home. The home opener for tennis will be March 25, when the Eagles take on Penn State Brandywine.
The women’s team is expected to have a rebuilding year. Luckily, enough women joined to have a full team this year. That being said, the women’s team will be looking to get some match experience and build for a great 2022-2023 season. Hopefully with some matches under their belts, some wins will come for the women’s team this season as well.
The women will be led by Sophomore Gracehope Stevens. Stevens will have a lot of tough matches playing in the top position but she has a year experience playing at first singles and has been improving her game in the offseason. What is exciting about the women’s team is that of the six players in the starting lineup, only two of them are seniors. The rest of the roster is either a freshman or sophomore, which is exciting for the future of the team.
The men’s team situation is the exact opposite. Of the starting lineup for the men, only two will be on the team for next season. The men will be led by Senior Bryan Levi at first singles. Levi had a couple wins in the top position last year and will look to use that experience to add to his wins for this season. At second singles for the men will be Senior Cole Patti. Patti has played at the first, second, and third positions throughout his career and will be returning from a right shoulder injury that sidelined him last season.
Another senior on the men’s team that will certainly make an impact is Senior Nick Wool. Wool is expected to play third singles this season and his experience over the past few years should help him to win a lot of matches for the team.
Both teams will be exciting to watch this season for different reasons. Be sure to come out to the Eastern tennis courts on March 25, if you would like to support our school’s tennis teams in their home openers.