KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The NAIA released its Women's Tennis Coaches' Preseason Poll for the 2025-26 season Wednesday afternoon, and the Loyola Wolf Pack checked in at No. 6 nationally after ending last season in the same position, which marked the highest ever for a Loyola tennis team. The NAIA top 25 has featured the Wolf Pack in 54 consecutive polls dating back to April 2018.
Loyola, which compiled a 17-6 overall record last season, was a quarterfinalist at the 2025 NAIA National Championship tournament. The Pack defeated 11th-ranked Marian to advance to the quarterfinals, where they then lost against No. 3 Lindsey Wilson. Keiser grabbed the top spot in the poll, while Georgia Gwinnett, Lindsey Wilson, William Carey, and Tennessee Wesleyan rounded out the preseason top five.
[Full NAIA Preseason Top 25 list]
Following a season in which they won the program's first conference tournament, the Pack recently had individual success at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association fall tournaments. Graduate students Adele Fereres and Avery Frierson competed in the finals of the ITA Gulf Regional to qualify them for the ITA Cup, where they reached the quarterfinal.
Fereres and Frierson are joined by senior Micaela Ponce and junior Avrora Volkova as returners from last year's championship lineup. The team also returns seniors Juliette Finch and Caitlin Wangard-Siles, sophomores Bianca Harris, Luciana Marziano, and Thandie Sampson.
Newcomers to the roster are Samantha Abir, Sofia Amodu, Audrey Luig, and Presha Shanthamoorthi. The freshmen duo of Amodu and Shanthamoorthi played together in doubles at the ITA Regional, with the latter reaching the quarterfinals in the singles main draw.
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