The Fairleigh Dickinson women's tennis team has been tabbed to finish third in the Northeast Conference's annual women's tennis preseason poll. The ten head coaches in the conference each filled out how they thought the teams would finish. The Knights received one first place vote.
The coaches selected 2008 conference champion Quinnipiac to reclaim its crown as champions. The Bobcats received five first place votes. Long Island, the defending conference champion, was picked to finish second, receiving four first place votes. The Knights were picked to finish third.
Mount St. Mary's, Sacred Heart and Monmouth were selected to finish in the middle of the pack. The Mountaineers and Pioneers were both tied for fourth place, while the Hawks are were selected sixth.
Rounding out the final four spots, in order, were Robert Morris, St. Francis (PA), Wagner, and St. Francis (NY).
The Knights, a semifinalist each of the past two seasons, has championship aspirations and rightfully so. Head coach Ira Miller made a high-profile addition to his lineup when Elmine Botes (Heidelberg Gauteng, Rep. of South Africa/Hoer Volkskool and British International Distance College) (Heidelberg Gauteng, South Africa/Indiana State) transferred from Indiana State. The sophomore twice won the NEC Player of the Week award last fall and was one win shy of a quarterfinal round appearance at the ITA Regional. Belgian freshman Egzona Morina (Prishtina, Kosovo/American School of Kosovo) (Prishtina, Belgium) is another key addition. Both Botes and Morina posted singles victories in FDU's 5-2 triumph over local rival Seton Hall in the fall, a team the Knights were shut out by during the 2008-09 campaign.
The two newcomers instantly strengthen a lineup that features senior Juljia Korshunova (Riga, Latvia) at the top. Korshunova took the league by storm in 2007 when she became the only player in league history to win both the NEC Player and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season, but has not garnered all-NEC honors since. Senior Ksenia Chernyshova (Moscow, Russia/Secondary School Korolev) (Moscow, Russia) won second team all-NEC honors at No. 2 singles as a sophomore, but slid down to the third spot to make room for Julia Prantl (Benediktbeuern, Germany/GUS-Gymnasium Bad Tolz) (Benediktbeuern, Germany) who won 11 matches as a rookie.
The Knights spring season begins Sunday, January 31, versus Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA at 10:00 a.m.
