Young UMass Dartmouth women's tennis
team will rely on returners in key roles

(Dartmouth, MA) -- Second-year women's tennis coach Ralph Perry has a very young squad this season with three starters returning from last year�s 7-6 team and several newcomers to the program trying to crack the starting lineup

Led by junior co-captains Isabelle Eiffe (Longmeadow, MA) and Dana Feinstein (Franklin, MA), the Corsairs will have to rely on the play of their veterans if they are going to be successful. After posting an 8-5 won-loss record in singles and a 4-3 mark in doubles as a sophomore, Feinstein will move into the #1 single duties and also play at #1 doubles. Eiffe will start the season at #2 singles after going 1-2 in singles and 3-3 in doubles as a sophomore in 1999.

Junior Sarah Clapp (Norfolk, MA) will be handling double duty for the Corsairs, playing at #4 singles and #2 doubles. Clapp was 4-8 in singles last season and 6-3 in doubles competition. Sophomore Coryne Preston (N. Attleboro, MA) is coming off an impressive first season and will probably play #5 singles and #3 doubles. Preston was 6-6 in singles and 6-5 in doubles last season.

The Corsairs will be without the services of sophomore Melissa Walsh (Watertown, MA) for the first 4 matches of the season. Walsh is recovering from a broken bone in her foot. She was 6-4 in singles in her first season, while going 6-2 in doubles matches

With no seniors on the Corsairs' roster this season, Perry will be looking to some of his younger players to step into the starting lineup right away.

"We�re a young squad with only 3 juniors and 3 sophomores to go along with 4 first-year players," said Perry, who took over the UMass Dartmouth women's tennis program a year ago. "But they are a hard-working, dedicated group of players who are ready to start the season."

Perry is going to open the 2000 season by starting a pair of first-year players in his lineup. Dena Haden (Sagamore Beach, MA) will get the nod at #3 singles and Erin Peters (Charlton, MA) will move into the #4 singles position.

In addition to Haden and Peters, Perry said Michaella O�Connell (Harrisville, RI) could easily break into the starting lineup in her first season. Caitlin Boucher (Brookfield, MA) is another first-year player who could get some playing time once she recovers from an early season injury along with sophomore Heather Guertin (Holden, MA).

UMass Dartmouth opened its 15-match schedule for the 2000 season with a 9-0 loss to Southern Maine. The Corsairs will compete in the 2000 Little East Conference Women�s Tennis Championships Oct. 14-15 at Rhode Island College where UMass Dartmouth will try to improve on its third-place finish in 1999.