TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University women's tennis team will be taking the court for the first time in nearly a year this week as they travel across Tacoma to take on the University of Puget Sound in a mid-week battle.

The Lutes are coming off an abrupt end to their 2019-2020 season in which they had compiled a 4-4 record and had started Northwest Conference play strong, winning their first match. The Lutes earned wins over Highline Community College, Community Colleges of Spokane, along with Willamette University and Lewis & Clark College. 

Head Coach Cheri Campbell is beginning her third season at the helm of the Lutes. After getting the hang of things her first year, the team saw drastic improvements in the few matches they had last year and will look to take another step this year, trying to finish the season with a higher winning percentage than the 2019-2020 campaign. 

"I'm looking forward to seeing my team compete again! We haven't played a match in almost a year after our season ending suddenly due to COVID-19. With the new NCAA practice regulations allowing for different ways of counting practices, I've been able to work with the team most of the academic year. Now players are ready to compete on the court again," said Campbell.

The Lutes are bringing back a roster loaded with veteran leadership and experience. Although they lost five seniors from last season's team, this year's roster is led by three seniors and sophomore standout Sydney Cameron. Cameron played in the No. 1 singles position for the Lutes last season and finished with a 5-2 record. She also teamed up with senior Hannah Jeffries to play No. 1 doubles and they finished with a 4-3 record in seven matches. 

Other seniors on this year's roster are Bayley Gochanour (11 career match wins) and Taylor Stokes (five career match wins). Although the Lutes have a small roster with only six members, they will be welcoming two first-years onto the team. Meggie Burnett is a first-year from Puyallup, Washington and Jillian Chong who is from Federal Way, Washington will look to step right in and make a big impact in their first season.

"I have four returners and two freshmen which means a small team. So, while having a strong group of returners, PLU also has a small team which can be a disadvantage if players become injured or ill. Luckily, we haven't seen any injuries and the returners have served as true leaders, on and off the court."

This year's schedule for the Lutes will be composed only of Northwest Conference matchups. They will play each school once during the season, having a total of four home matches and four road matches. Tuesday night's game against Puget Sound will not count towards the Northwest Conference standings.

"The team has demonstrated time and time again that they are flexible, resilient, and adaptable to the ever changing pandemic effects. We are fortunate, with a small team, that the players work well together, respect individual safety concerns, and are creative in finding ways to meet their fitness goals while maintaining safety precautions."