With the weather beginning to cool and school in full session, the Lehigh women’s tennis team has returned to the Ulrich Varsity Courts to prepare for a run at a Patriot League Championship and NCAA Tournament bid this season.
The Mountain Hawks finished 7-10 a year ago with a 2-2 mark in the conference and a 7-8 record at home. Last season was an improvement for the women’s tennis team, as the No. 5 seed Mountain Hawks lost in the quarterfinals 4-0 to No. 4 Bucknell University.
This year, the squad looks stronger than ever. A solid class of four talented first-years will compliment an already accomplished group of returners, as the women appear poised for another successful run. At the helm for Lehigh is Dave Shook, who enters his 19th season coaching at Lehigh and his third season coaching the women’s team.
At his side will be former Lehigh tennis standout Taylor Hampshire, who will begin her first year of her coaching career for both the men’s and women’s teams. Hampshire is a graduate assistant who was a two-time receiver of Lehigh’s coaches award and a second-team All-Patriot League performer.
Shook is really excited about his first-year class, which he considers the strongest in program history. The class consists of three outstanding doubles players who are eager to contribute, as well as a highly-touted singles player Christina Auyeung.
These three players are all from New Jersey and rank in the top 20 of the state. Breezy Maravich is from Moorestown and ranked No. 12, Abigail Duddy from Sea Girt is No. 10 and Kiristin Godau from Montville is ranked No. 9 in New Jersey according to tennisrecruiting.net.
Christina Auyeung is ranked No. 86 in the country and should provide a huge lift to the team. She is from Herbert Henry Dow High School in Midland, Michigan, and is a four-star recruit ranked No. 5 in her state.
The Hawks also have a number of returning players, as they only graduated three seniors last year. Leading the squad is sophomore Jamie Campisi. She led the team in winning percentage for singles play, posting a 7-3 overall record and 4-0 in the Patriot League. Sophomore Cassidy Cruz is also ready for another successful year after posting a 5-2 overall record in the second singles spot and a 6-4 record playing the third singles spot.
For doubles, Lehigh will look to rely on senior Abby Farrell and junior Ali Kaminetsky who both had very successful seasons last year. Campisi and the rest of her teammates are eager to get back in the grind as she feels the team worked extremely hard in the offseason.
The team will look to get into a winning stride right from the beginning as they start their season this Friday through Sunday at the sixth annual Bill and Sandra Moore Invitational. The invitational will be a six-team tournament beginning on Friday afternoon in Annapolis, Maryland.
The Mountain Hawks will look to continue their success in the Eastern Tennis Championship, which will be hosted by the Black Knights of Army in West Point, New York. A little less than a month later is the Patriot League Kickoff, hosted in Lehigh’s own Lewis Indoor Tennis Center.
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