Coach Joe Kissel begins his fifth season as coach of the Goldey-Beacom College Women’s Tennis team. The 2009-10 team accounted for GBC’s most successful tennis season in just its fifth year of sponsoring a Division II NCAA women’s tennis program. The Lightning finished 13-5, good for 2nd place in the tough Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, qualified for the NCAA East Regional Tournament and completed the season ranked No. 7 in the East. And Coach Kissel was named for the second consecutive year, CACC Coach of the Year.
In looking to 2010-11, Coach Kissel stated, “While our top six players are returning, it doesn’t necessarily translate into more success. Each year is a new team and a new beginning. The tough CACC had three teams ranked in the Top-8 in the NCAA East Region last year. While GBC was one of the three, this doesn’t guarantee anything. I expect significant improvement in the entire league this fall. However, this year I am not as concerned about leadership. We have several responsible young women, with Luciana and Daniela Pereira leading the pack. Both have been in the program for three years and have helped us grow the program very quickly.”
Three new additions to the team include Gabriela Chaves (Joao Pessoa-PB, Brazil), Laura Cure (Maracaibo, Venezuela) and Marie-Louise Klein (Espergaerde, Denmark). All three are expected to contribute as freshmen. Returning from the 2009-10 team are twins Daniela and Luciana Pereira and Marina Sales from Brazil, Melanie Bonomo and Vanessa Leon from Venezuela, Blanca Sancho from Spain and Anastasia Chibrikova from Russia.
With ten recruited tennis players for the first time, the team will be the deepest it has been since the beginning of the program in 2005. Coach Kissel recently indicated that competition will be fierce for playing time, but he intends to play all ten players, rotating various players between singles and doubles from one match to another as he searches for the best doubles combinations and singles players on the team.
Everyone at GBC is looking forward to seeing how the team will develop and compete against a much stronger 2010-11 conference and non-conference schedule. Regardless, the team should be much improved and exciting to watch as the possibility looms for the program’s third consecutive winning season.
