Women's Tennis Opens Saturday at Home vs. Davidson

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The UNC Asheville women's tennis opens the 2012 season at home on Saturday when the Bulldog netters host Davidson at the Asheville Racquet Club Downtown starting at 3 p.m.

The Bulldogs are anxious to put the 2011 season behind them. An injury-filled season left Asheville with only five healthy players in a lot of matches as the Bulldogs finished with a 6-16 overall record.

"We competed well in most of our matches last season but just didn't have the depth to compete like we would have liked," stated Asheville coach Lise Gregory. "We will be better this year as we've had a good recruiting class along with the players we have returning."

Heading up the returnees is talented senior Devon Cavanaugh. The Florida native went 11-6 in singles a year ago and had a 4-3 mark in league play. She did this despite playing with a back injury for much of the season. Sophomore Zoe Hamel showed some promise as a freshman with eight singles wins.

Christine Boissevain, Amie Cloer, Jenna Dodge, Emily McNall and Amryn Soldier are the newcomers that fill out the Bulldog roster. This class was rated as one of the top mid-major recruiting classes in the county. It's a young class with four of the new players being freshman. Cloer is a transfer from Appalachian State. Her sister, Britney, played for the Bulldogs last season before graduating.

"I'm quite excited about our new players," declared Gregory. "However, we have to have some patience as most of these players are freshman and there's always an adjustment to college tennis.

"I'm glad to have Devon and Zoe back," added Gregory. "Both are great leaders and will lead our young team this season."

The Bulldogs have an extra incentive this season and that's the fact that Asheville will host the Big South Conference championships in April (19-21). The championships will be held at both ARC locations, downtown and in South Asheville.

"We're all excited about the fact that we're hosting the championships in Asheville," stated Gregory. "We're fortunate to have a great relationship with the Asheville Racquet Club and are anxious to show off our great facilities in April."