DAYTON – The University of Dayton women's tennis team will begin the 2022 spring season Saturday at Xavier. The match will begin at 5 p.m. at Eastern Hills Indoor Tennis Club in Cincinnati.
 
"We are eager to kick off the season at Xavier this weekend," head coach Erica Echko said. "Doug Matthews has done a great job building their program and Xavier is one of the top teams in the region. We are familiar with most of their players after competing in their fall tournament and last season we had close matches with two third-set tiebreakers against them so we'll look to improve on that. My freshmen are especially excited to play in their first spring dual match and we aren't feeling any pressure as we head to Cincinnati and look to have a successful season."
 
Dayton won two matches in the fall against Wittenberg and Thomas More as well and are returning six of eight who competed in matches for the Flyers in 2021. Junior Erica Wojcikiewicz led UD with nine singles victories last season and was also named to the Atlantic 10 All-Academic Team. Fellow juniors Elizabeth Hamilton and Paige Kompa also return with each playing extensively in the top three singles flights for the Flyers in 2021.
 
Seniors Claire Ghidotti and Natalie Stanton and sophomore Sarah DeMarco represent the other returners from last year's team, with each notching four singles victories last season. Stanton tied for third on the roster with six doubles victories as well in her first season in Dayton. Freshmen Laura Greb, Neena Katauskas, and Jordan Mitchell complete the roster with each picking up multiple singles wins during the fall season.
 
Xavier will open the season against Northern Kentucky on Friday, with the Flyers marking the second contest of the weekend for the Musketeers, who finished with a 17-4 record in 2021, going on to win the program's second Big East Championship before falling to Northwestern in the first round of the NCAA Tournament 4-0.
 
The Musketeers are led by Ahmeir Kyle, who made the NCAA DI Singles Championship a season ago, the first time that happened in program history. Kyle went 10-4 in singles play. Anna Roggenburk also returns for Xavier after being named Freshman of the Year and joining Kyle on the All-Big East First Team in 2021, sporting a 15-4 record in singles play between the first three flights.