LARAMIE, Wyo. (Sept. 11, 2018) – The Wyoming tennis team will open its 2018 fall season this weekend at the ITA Bedford Cup in the Mountains. The four day tournament will run from Thursday-Sunday in Colorado Springs and is being hosted by the Air Force Academy.
 
"We need to shake the rust off with Tessa and Elisa. It will be good to see them out there competing and getting back in the flow of things," head coach Dean Clower said. "They will start preparing for the All-American tournament. For the freshmen, it will be good to see them get after it, compete and attempt to play our style of tennis. The first weekend is never perfect, but as long as we are making progress towards our end goal is what I'm looking for."

The Cowgirls welcome back three starters and letterwinners to a team that posted 12-8 record overall and a 3-2 mark in MW action a year ago. It was the ninth straight season the Cowgirls have recorded double-digits wins and finished .500 or better in league play.  
 
Entering his eighth season at the helm, head coach Dean Clower has an overall mark of 91-58 and a 29-11 record in league play. At least two individuals have earned All-Conference honors in each of his seven years including this past season. Outgoing senior Magdalena Stencel earned her fourth straight award in singles. She is only the second player in school history to achieve that mark. Juniors Elisa Koonik and Tessa van Der Ploeg were selected All-MW in doubles for the second straight year, while Koonik was named all-conference in singles.
 
Several individuals will be looked upon to help the Cowgirls in 2017-18, including Koonik and van Der Ploeg. Koonik finished her junior campaign with a 20-8 overall singles record and 17-12 in doubles action, which helped her earn MW honors in both categories. She currently ranks 15th all-time with 51 doubles wins and 19th in singles with 53. van Der Ploeg recorded a 15-11 mark in singles and 17-12 in doubles. The other returning letterwinner is Myiah Scott. There are also four newcomers to the squad who hope to contribute to the team in Ana Fernandez, Mihaela Kaftanova, Ida Krause and Ana Royo. The squad is composed of two seniors, one junior, one sophomore and four freshmen.
 
Wyoming will compete in four more tournaments following this weekend. It will host the Wyoming Invite, Sept. 21-23, the Colorado State Invite, Oct. 5-7, the ITA Mountain Regional Tournament, Oct. 10-14, in Las Vegas and the Red and Blue Challenge, Nov. 2-5, in Dallas. The spring schedule begins on the road at the Hurricane Invite in Tulsa.  UW's first conference match will be Friday, March 29 against New Mexico.