Spring is around the corner and with that comes the start of the season for Villanova’s men’s and women’s tennis teams. To give you an idea about their upcoming seasons, we spoke with seniors Luis Miranda and Linley Busby, both co-captains of their respective teams.

MEN’S TENNIS

Back for his 10th season at the helm of Villanova men’s tennis, Head Coach Brad Adams will look to lead his youth infused team to a year of successful play. The team is co-captained by senior Miranda and junior Alastair Hurry. Miranda had high praise for the freshman class, calling them “the best recruiting class in over 10 years of this program.”

After playing number three singles last year, Miranda will jump up to the number one spot this season, something he acknowledges will test him, but he is excited to undertake the challenge. Miranda says his jump in the lineup “will be a challenge for me but will show this young team what community and unity mean to this school and to this team.” 

The remaining top singles players are all freshmen, with Stefan Suarez slotted to play in the number two spot followed by fellow newcomers Tyler Roth and Dylan Flanagan. The singles lineup is expected to be rounded out by juniors Matt Phelps at number five and Alastair Hurry at six.

In doubles, Miranda will be joined by junior Will Elmore at the number one spot, followed by the freshman duo of Suarez and Roth at two, and sophomore Thomas Dobson with freshman Tommy Mulflur at number three. 

An extremely exciting schedule is on tap for the team this season, highlighted by a trip to San Diego for the Pacific Coast Doubles Tournament, a prestigious event that has been won in the past by the likes of Andy Roddick. This year will be the 128th year of the event, making it the nation’s second oldest tennis tournament after the U.S. Open.

Miranda also views the matches against UConn, Lehigh, St. Joes, UC Irvine, UC San Diego and Georgetown as particularly significant because “these are the schools we compete for recruits with.” Miranda said he is “very pumped for the season,” and individually hopes to “learn from the guys, finish above .500 at number one and enjoy my last year as a college athlete.”

In terms of the team’s goals, Miranda stressed their desire to prove themselves in the Big East, beat their rivals, and keep building team chemistry. If they can achieve this, it is sure to be a successful season for Adams’ squad. 

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Primed for his 20th year at Villanova, Steve Reiniger heads this year’s women’s team. Seniors Linley Busby and Connor Brewer will captain the squad which features a mixture of youth and experience.

At the number one spot this year, the team will turn to promising prospect Kaylan Rotman, a freshman from Florida. At the second singles spot is junior Victoria Martinez while sophomore Lindsey Evans will play three. Busby had high praise for Evans.

“Her volleys and hands at the net are some of the best on the team,” she said. 

The singles lineup is rounded out by juniors Paulina Bajet and Alexandra Krogius at four and five respectively and freshman Carina Burdick at the sixth spot. For the doubles lineup, Rotman and Evans are in line to play at the first spot, with Martinez and sophomore doubles specialist Sydney King at two and Busby and Bajet playing three. 

Like the men’s team, the women’s squad will head to California over spring break for a series of four matches out west.

“Bucknell, St. Joe’s and Drexel are always great matchups we look forward to every year,” Busby said.

The women’s schedule features 24 matches in all and runs from late January to the end of April. 

Close matches have been a theme of the Wildcats’ play during the past two seasons. 

“Two years ago, we unfortunately ended up more often on the losing side of these tough matches, but last year we were on the winning side,” Busby said.

 Indeed, last season was a very good one for the team, as it was the first time in many years that it achieved a winning record. The team hopes to build on this success, something Busby feels it can do.

“We have struggled with clinching the doubles’ point in the past, but this year I think we can definitely switch that around with our strong doubles’ duos,” she said.

 If the ‘Cats can continue to win the close matches like Busby hopes, this season has the potential to be another great success for the program.