SHERMAN, Texas - The Austin College men's and women's tennis teams will be looking to continue building a foundation and culture of winning as they head into the 2024 season under the direction of head coach Syvoney Ybarra, who enters her second season at the helm for the 'Roos.
Luke Henley heads into the season as the lone senior for either the men or women, as Ybarra boasts two young squads that, combined, have six newcomers out of the 11 total competitors between the programs. Ybarra will be lookign to Henley for his leadership in addition to his talent on the court, and she expects him to make a big impact as one of the top players on the men's roster. Last year he picked up a pair of singles victories while playing at the numbers two, four, and five positions, and also logged plenty of experience competing on all three doubles lines throughout the course of the season.
He'll be aided by returners Trey Salyer and AJ Wueste, who each return with significant experience in the program and competed on the top three lines in singles action, with Salyer also notching three wins playing number one doubles. Wueste picked up two wins playing flight three singles, with Salyer also earning the men's team's lone line one singles victory of the 2023 campaign. Ybarra is expecting continued growth from both players, as they take on larger roles within the program that she believes will carry over to on-court success.
While there are several first-year members of both the men's and women's programs, Ybarra is anticipating immediate contributions from those new faces, including men's players Evan Pezirtzoglou, Joel Colunga, and Zeneth Mata. All three are expected to be competitive from the start, with Perzirtzoglou heading into the season with the potential to make waves as an immediate contributor near the top of the lineup, in addition to the talent and team-first attitudes Colunga and Mata will be bringing to the table.
Bailey Standokes proved to be one of the top performers for the program on the women's side a year ago, and Ybarra will be looking for the junior to take on a bigger leadership role, helping her younger teammates adjust to the college game and how to thrive as a student-athlete in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. Last season, Standokes played on lines one through four in singles competition, picking up a pair of wins, and spent time on all three lines in doubles action, including being part of the team's lone line one victory in 2023.
Fellow junior Karina Alvarez joins Standokes as the lone uppperclassmen on the women's roster, with sophomore newcomers Karsyn Clouse and Emma Davidson, as well as freshman Kaitlin Clasby bringing talent and youth to the program. Clouse has already entrenched herself as one of the team's leaders despite being new to the program, and Ybarra will be looking for that continued strong presence to help build the culture around the program moving forward. Davidson also brings plenty of ability on the court and Clasby, who had stepped away from the sport, returns with a renewed passion to compete and, according to Ybarra, looks motivated to compete, be part of the team, and bring additional youthful leadership to the program.
The Austin College men open up the season on Sunday, when they head up the road to Durant to take on NCAA Division II opponent Southeastern Oklahoma at 2:00 p.m., while the women will start their 2024 campaign on February 11, also against Southeastern, at home with the match set to begin at 11:00 a.m.