LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After competing in three tournaments during the fall, the Bellarmine women's tennis is ready to start its third season in Division I on Saturday.

The Knights are set for a 27-match regular season slate featuring 12 home contests, 13 on the road, and two neutral matchups.  Every home match will take place at the Eddie Weber Tennis Complex on Bellarmine's campus.

Bellarmine will face four power-conference opponents (Indiana, Louisville, Tennessee, Kentucky), matching last year's total, and eight different teams in ASUN action.  Conference play for BU begins March 17 at North Alabama.  Second-year Head Coach Brian Slack understands the challenges that await but is excited to get the season rolling:
 
"We do have a tough schedule to start the spring season, but this group has really come to work each day in practice," Slack said.  "I look forward to going to battle with this group each time out on the court.  The expectations for this group is just to continue to get better and battle every day."
 
This past fall, the Knights took on Missouri in a pair of hidden duals, faced six different teams over three days of hidden duals at Middle Tennessee, and took on a trio of squads in hidden duals at home to round out 2022.  Bellarmine totaled 37 wins throughout the fall slate.  Freshmen Vendula Kryslova and Hanley Riner led the Knights with three singles wins each.  The doubles team of Kryslova and sophomore Ekaterina Tikhonko was spectacular, going 6-1 in fall competition.
 
Looking back on the results, Slack is happy with the growth:
 
"This fall was a great tune up for what our spring season has in store for us," Slack added.  "We were able to schedule a SEC team and get some match play in against some teams that we will actually see in the spring season. I felt like the team was anxious to play some matches, and we are looking forward to continuing some of the success we had in the fall – especially with how we finished the last weekend at home."
 
Slack's team consists of four freshmen, two sophomores, and one senior.  Maja Kozerski competed for the final time this fall and graduated at the semester.  Bellarmine's lone senior is Channing Varnum, who was named an ITA Scholar-Athlete and picked up three doubles victories this past season.  BU's other returner is Tikhonko, who was named to the ASUN All-Freshman Team last season.  The sophomore from Minsk played no. 1 singles and led the Knights with 10 singles victories, including four in ASUN action.   A new sophomore for Bellarmine is Lailaa Bashir, who transferred in from Xavier University of Louisiana (NAIA) this summer.  Bashir was a three-time First-Team All-American in NAIA and ranked as the top NAIA doubles player two years ago. 

The freshman class is the largest group for Bellarmine.  The aforementioned Riner comes from Cabell Midland High School and was ranked as the no. 1 player in West Virginia for three years.  Kryslova is another international player for Bellarmine, coming to Louisville from Letkov, Czech Republic.  Shu Grosso attended The Academy for Science and Design in Merrimack, New Hampshire and was ranked as the top player in the state last season.  Cydney Rogers rounds out the freshman class, coming to Bellarmine from Valley View High School in Jonesboro, Ark.  Rogers was the no. 1 player in Arkansas and won two state singles titles.

Slack is looking forward to seeing the impact the newcomers will have on the program:
 
"The newcomers are such an exciting group," Slack said.  "There is some talent in this group, and we are going to need it, because they are going to be thrown right into the matches this spring. All five of these young ladies are going to have a major impact on this program, not only this year but the years to come. They each will have substantial playing time this spring season. They have the opportunity to make their mark immediately on this program."
 
Bellarmine opens its season with home matches versus North Dakota and Western Kentucky on Saturday.  The Knights will face UND first at 10:00 a.m. before taking on the Hilltoppers at 3:30 p.m. inside of the Eddie Weber Tennis Complex.  On Monday, Bellarmine will have a busy day, starting with a home dual against IU-Southeast at 9:00 a.m.  Following a quick break, BU will travel up to Bloomington to take on Indiana at 4:00 p.m. later in the day. 
 
North Dakota went 11-11 with a 4-3 record in the Summitt League last season.  Western Kentucky posted an impressive 18-9 record with a 2-1 mark in limited Conference-USA action.  IU-Southeast went 7-8 at the NAIA level last year, while Indiana went 10-15 with a 3-8 record in the Big Ten last season.

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