After ending the fall season as the WIAC champions for the 16th straight year, the UW-Whitewater women’s tennis team is looking ahead to the spring season and already starting to prepare. They ended strong, and are hoping to continue on just as successfully with their team leaders according to head coach Frank Barnes.

Q: Is there anything else that’s changed about the team?

A: Well, our top four players are all sophomores and juniors. Now they’re finally considering themselves veterans since they’ve been through everything at least once. So I think that having the experience is probably going to be a big difference this time.

Q: What are your goals for this upcoming season?

A: To do well against those ranks right before the NCAA Tournament. We don’t have our automatic qualifier yet since that’s determined in the last week of April. The top four teams from the conference postseason at Whitewater will have a tournament. Whoever wins that gets the automatic qualifying to go to the NCAA. Obviously our goal is to win that again. We’ve never made it to the final A, we’ve made it to the sweet 16 several times, but our goal this year is to make it finally.

Q: How would you say you’re preparing for those goals?

A: Well right now we’re not allowed to practice in the offseason. Players are practicing on their own and they’re working out on their own. In about 10 days the coaches are gonna be allowed to join them so we’ll be doing daily practices then. But our captains have been doing a great job of leading and helping prepare the team in the meantime.

Q: What do you think the team is probably most looking forward to for this season?

A: The spring trip. We’re going to California this year. We’re gonna spend five days in the desert and two days on the beach. And it’s in Orange County, so we’re gonna be in the Palm Springs Orange County modifier.