On Saturday the Knights tennis teams will open up their spring seasons against the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky.

Last season the Bellarmine men defeated the Toppers 6-3 while the women lost in a close match 5-4.

The women will begin play at the Eddie Weber Tennis Center at 9 a.m. with the men following at 1 p.m.

Coming off of a strong fall season with wins at the Centre College Tournament, Indiana University Southeast and Franklin College, the women's team will look to keep the momentum rolling into the spring schedule.

The Knights women's team has put together back-to-back 14 win seasons, and with injuries to Jamie Claeys and Kelly Hollingsworth, the Knights will need freshmen Michelle McFerran and Caitlin Hanley to step up and play well. Both McFerran and Hanley have witnessed success this fall and will look to improve and challenge for top spots on the team as the season progresses. Head tennis coach John Mican has high expectations for the two talented freshmen. “We couldn't be more fortunate than to have added Caitlin Hanley and Michelle McFerran to this year's team. They are both extremely talented, super competitive and highly motivated to improve. The sky's the limit for these two and I know that they have already set some lofty goals for their careers,” said Mican.

This season Bellarmine will be anchored by returning letter winners Evann Waschuk, Hannah-Rose Hagan and Abby Day. Seniors Day and Hagan will provide leadership and experience for the team. Hagan, 7^th on the all-time career wins list with 79, will look to add to that impressive total before finishing up her career at Bellarmine.

The women have also benefitted from former star tennis player Rebecca Porter joining the Knights' staff. Porter was a stand-out tennis player for Bellarmine and finished her career with 140 wins, giving her the school record in that category. “Just having her hit with the players helps us immensely but she has also been sharing the wealth of tennis and life knowledge with the young players as they look to her for guidance,” said Mican.  

The men's tennis team is one of the deeper squads in recent history and will certainly be looking to improve on the 10-10 record they posted a year ago. “The depth on this year's squad has made for some very intense practices as the guys compete for playing time.  At the same time they have shown a cohesiveness as a team with genuine support for one another,” said Coach Mican.

Like the women's team, the men also had a strong fall with wins at the Centre College Tournament, Hanover College and Franklin College. The Knights also had their best showing ever at the annual Midwest ITA tournament, highlighted by the performance of Anton Rabinov who made an impressive run to the final.

The Knights have a stable foundation with strong senior leadership provided by Jacob Knagenhjelm and Carlos Antonioli, “They provide essential leadership and consistently produce high quality tennis,” said Mican.

In addition to senior leadership the Knights also have a wealth of young talent. Freshman Nathan Walroth will look to add to his team leading win total from the fall and sophomore Alan Gardiner will continue to push for playing time. Gardiner has worked hard on the court as well as in the classroom, earning a 4.0 GPA last semester.     

Bellarmine expects to be competitive with every opponent they will face this season, in large part due to redshirt freshman Igal Mostkov. Coach John Mican has high expectations for this team. “Mostkov will be a major force this spring as the talented Israeli-Russian is now able to display his mega-talent for the Knights.  With this group of guys we will be more than competitive with all opponents.”