by Andreea Georgescu
Staff writer
Southeastern men’s and women’s tennis teams are ready to start the spring season. Each team will play its first match of the season on Feb. 8 in Dallas, Texas against Dallas Baptist University.
The men’s tennis team has 10 players this semester. The team added two new members last semester, Martin Bedecarratz from Chile and Lobo Laercio from Brazil, and this semester, another three players joined the team: Tiago Ferreira from Portugal, Marco Nunez del Prado from Peru and Joaquin Aguilera from Peru.
The new players are already well integrated in the team. “I feel comfortable being part of the team, and I am already friends with all my teammates,” said Ferreira. He added that even though this is his first college semester, he wants to win the conference and go to nationals with his teammates.
Head coach Shawn Hamil has similar goals for this semester. “First of all, I would like to improve our record this semester. I think we also have a big chance of winning the conference this year and also go to the nationals,” Hamil said.
Hamil also added that he would like to see everyone giving 100 percent effort to maximize their potential. “All the guys are really competitive, and it is going to be hard for me to decide about the line up,” he said.
Southeastern women’s tennis team has seven members. The team added two new players last semester, Elba Haugen from Mexico and Cassaundra Braaten from Texas. At the beginning of the spring semester, another two players joined the team, Marina Dias from Brazil and Sara Alvarez from Spain.
“I am really excited to go on trips and spend more time with my team because we are like a family,” Braaten said. “We all have each other’s backs, and between the time we spend on and off the courts, we’ve all gotten really close.”
The women’s tennis team experienced a change in coaches on Oct. 1 when former coach Pat Mauldin retired and Hamil took over. “I know it’s been a period of transition for the women tennis team,” said Hamil, “but I am really optimistic about this semester.” He added that he would like to work on strategy and aggressiveness. “I would like for the girls to get a ranking, do the best in the conference and of course go to the nationals,” said Hamil.