CHARLOTTE — Charlotte Women’s Tennis is starting the season with a heavy workload, beginning with a home doubleheader Friday against Queens at 9 a.m. and Elon at 12 p.m. at Lifetime Fitness.
The 49ers will then head to Clemson, S.C., for Sunday’s doubleheader against the Tigers at 10 a.m. and South Carolina State at 5 p.m.
Scouting the Weekend
Clemson headlines the weekend slate after it outlasted Charlotte, 4-3, in the programs’ meeting last season at the Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex. The Tigers had a pair of singles standouts — No. 71 Ria Bhakta and No. 122 Amelie Smejkalova — earning spots in the latest ITA Singles Rankings.
The Tigers also boast two pairs ranked in the doubles top 75.
Elon went 19-6 last year, including a CAA Championship that earned the Phoenix an entry into the NCAA Tournament, where they fell to No. 10 Tennessee. South Carolina State also found success with a 16-5 mark that included a MEAC Championship before the Bulldogs fell to NC State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Queens enters the year after posting a 1-18 record last season, including a 5-0 loss to Charlotte.
Fall Stars
Ni Xi made program history with her singles run to an American Conference Individual Championship, which earned her a berth in the NCAA Singles Championship — the program’s first-ever qualifier for the event.
For her efforts, the now-sophomore was ranked No. 72 in the most recent ITA Singles Rankings.
Returning and New Niners
Charlotte returns nearly its entire team for the upcoming spring slate, with the exception of last year’s captain, Amira Badawi, who graduated. In her stead, the 49ers added freshman Andrea Chacon to a roster that returns each of its other seven members, including Prisca Abbas, who finished last season with a 14-1 singles mark as a freshman — her only loss coming in the final match of the NCAA Championship.
Lucia Aranda also returns after accumulating a team-best 19 singles wins, while Shona Nakano and Xi will look to build on their combined 37 doubles wins a year ago.