The women’s tennis team began its spring season Saturday with home matches at Heard Stadium.

“I think we have a good team atmosphere this year,” head coach Terrence De Jongh said.

In the fall season, senior Vivian Polak played well enough to become nationally ranked at number 88. She still holds that spot as the spring season opens and with a few wins she will lower it.

De Jongh said, “She’s working hard, and hopefully she can take the experience she has and let it carry over into the spring.”

Also, sophomore Isabelle Rocher played well in the fall, and De Jongh said since spring started she came in “hungrier.”

“It’s a competition now to make the lineup because we have more girls on the team, and competition is a good thing,” De Jongh said. “All the girls seem hungrier.”

In the fall season, the team had only four athletes on the roster to compete. Now, they have seven, which motivates each athlete to work harder to compete for the team because only six are allowed to compete per duo match.

Polak said, “We are stronger than last year because we have some good new girls for the upper lineup.”

A new face to the program is freshman Silvia Tumova from Slovakia. Tumova is in her first semester with the team but said, “We are a very good team, and I like it.”

Tumova said, “The people here are really friendly and try to help each other.”

De Jongh said the team doesn’t have a vocal leader on the court yet, and assistant coach R.J. Nagel said that is very important to a teams’ success.

“It’s everything. We need that leadership. We need that person saying, ‘Come on girls, we need that ring this year.’” Nagel said, “If that voice comes along, this could be our year.”

When asked who could fill that role she replied, “I guess me or Mo (Monica Winkel) have to step up in that area.”

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