The St. Thomas Aquinas women's tennis team is set to open the 2016 Fall season on Friday, September 2nd. The Spartans will have a new look to them, starting with first year head coach Matt Capell. Capell took over the men's tennis program two years ago and guided the Spartans into the post season in 2016.

The Spartans also welcome freshman Katarina Lopez from New City, N.Y.  The Albertus Magnus graduate will be the lone freshmen on the veteran squad.  The Spartans return seven players including top preformers; senior Bianca Signore, juniors  Nyenyeri Kanefu and Sara O'Brien.  The Spartans have three other seniors and one junior providing solid leadership to the program in Shannon Biehle, Raven Deleon, Nasia Vega and Carolyn Kopf.     

The Spartans finished, 7-7 in the 2015-16 season and were selected 6th in the ECC Preseason Poll voted on among the conference coaches.  For the second straight year, New York Institute of Technology has been selected as an unanimous favorite to win the East Coast Conference Women's Tennis Championship by the league's coaches.  NYIT's Lena Dimmer (Wallendorf-Pont, Luxembourg) has also been selected by the coaches as the Preseason Player of the Year.

Coach Capell is confident that the groups experience should help them contend for a conference tournament berth in the highly competitive ECC.  "Our conference play will once again be one of the toughest in Division II.  The trip to Daemen & Roberts Wesleyan will be a big factor in who will make the conference tournament," commented Capell.

The Spartans open their season against the University of the Sciences at home on the 2nd. Match is set for a 2:00 p.m. start.  The Spartans have five home matches and five road matches scheduled for the Fall season.