Wolf Pack tennis teams begin fall schedule

THIBODAUX, La. – The Loyola Wolf Pack men's and women's tennis teams saw their first action of the 2023-24 season, competing in the Battle Down the Bayou tournament against players from the NCAA DI programs New Orleans and host Nicholls. 

Each school was allowed to enter up to eight singles players and four doubles teams for the two-day competition, with a mix of singles and doubles play on both Friday and Saturday. 

In their first competition since the spring's NAIA National Championship, the Wolf Pack women's team brought all of their top six from last season's squad to the tournament. Lucy Carpenter, Micaela Ponce, Adele Fereres, Fatima Vasquez, Avery Frierson, Isabella Leaño, Ana Cecilia Castillo, and freshman Avrora Volkova competed in singles. In doubles it was Carpenter and Vasquez, Ponce and Ariana Salgueiro-Estela, Fereres and Volkova, Frierson and Elly Carpenter, and Leaño and Castillo. 

Loyola put on a strong showing in women's doubles, winning the majority of the team's matches over the weekend. Carpenter and Vasquez won all their matches during the tournament, the only doubles team to go undefeated. Ponce and Salgueiro-Estela went 2-1 in their doubles matches, and the teams of Fereres/Volkova and Frierson/Carpenter each won a match. 

In women's singles, Fereres and Frierson both went 2-0 over the weekend. Lucy Carpenter, Vasquez, and Leaño also grabbed singles victories. 

On the men's side, Francisco Javier Arce Vieyra, Remus Hebhang-Balan, Herman Aure, Samuel Motazed, Spencer Matz, Hippolyte de Preville, and newcomer Brian Wilkins competed in singles. On the doubles side, it was Arce Vieyra and Motazed, Aure and de Preville, Wilkins and Hebhang-Balan, and Matz and Diego Rodriguez Tobar. 

De Preville went undefeated in singles competition, while the team of Wilkins and Hebhang-Balan got one win in doubles. 

Next up for the Wolf Pack tennis programs is the ITA Regional, which will be held September 29 through October 1, hosted by Xavier. 
 

Head coach Matt Llewellyn

"The men's team competed hard and showed a good level to open the fall. It's early and we have a talented group who wants to win the SSAC. We'll improve a ton over the next couple weeks of training with the right mindset. I'm excited to see them compete again at regionals.

"Our women played well overall. We played with confidence and toughness. It wasn't close to our best level, but I couldn't have asked for more in our first outing. We won a bunch of matches and felt we were the best team at the event. I expect us to win every time we take the court. This is the greatest women's team in Loyola history, they are a special group."

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