Following a championship year, senior captain Freddy Wilkens looks to compete hard and lead the men to another successful season.
Courtesy: APU Sports Information
Following a 23-2 national championship year for the men’s tennis team and an 18-8 season for the women’s tennis team that ended with a NCCAA semifinal loss to Fresno Pacific, the Azusa Pacific tennis program is preparing for its final season before full NCAA eligibility.
The men’s tennis team will be without two of its top players from last season. Former captain Jochem Hoefnagels graduated and Ben Eger will be redshirting this season. Sophomore Jan Meyer and junior Gary Yam return to the team as top players for the Cougars this season. The roster consists of four newcomers, including a sophomore transfer from Eastern Washington, Tomas Aranguiz.
Head coach Mark Bohren said this season is going to be much different from last season, with a few seniors gone and several newcomers arriving.
“It’s impossible to repeat what we did last year. We didn’t lose a match in the NAIA last year until the national championships,” Bohren said. “Expectations are like they are every year — to be our very best by the end of the season.”
Senior and team captain Freddy Wilkens is taking Hoefnagels’ spot as the top player and the senior leader for the Cougars. He had a 19-7 singles record last year and earned All-PacWest Second Team Singles honors. Bohren said he is excited about Wilkens’ ability to be an effective leader for the team this season.
“[Freddy] has an amazing ability to lead the guys by example out there, and that leadership will, just like last year with Jochem, win us a few matches, calm us when things are difficult, and pull us through some of those really close dual matches,” Bohren said.
Wilkens, the only senior on the active roster, said he takes his role model position on the team seriously.
“For myself, I always try to stay on top of things, I always try to organize everything, I try to do the best I can to help everyone out and to lead the team the best that I can,” he said.
Meyer, last season’s PacWest co-Freshman of the Year, and Yam are returners who, according to Bohren, will carry the men through the lengthy dual matches. The team’s good shape will keep away the squad from adversity relating to fatigue.
“We put a lot of time and effort into [conditioning], so that always helps in those really long, 3 1/2 hour matches where guys are playing and conditioning comes to be a part of it,” Bohren said. “We might even win a match or two off that strength — off of our ability to be physically fit and ready to compete for long periods.”
The women’s tennis team is essentially the same as last year’s, aside from losing one player and adding freshman Natalie Johnson. Bohren said he wants the team to be successful, but more than anything, he wants to stay competitive.
“The wins and losses are not that important to me. We’re trying to build each day to get a little bit better,” Bohren said. “The girls, one of their expectations as a group is to be competitive in every match. Whether we’re better than the other team or not as good, they’re going to go out there and compete their hardest.”
Out of the eight players on the roster, four are experienced seniors, which Bohren said makes “a huge difference.”
“I just think, as a coach, it’s a lot of fun to have seniors,” Bohren said. “They’re very well behaved, they know what to do, they’re on time, they know exactly what to expect, there’s no real surprises for them, so it’s a really relaxed group of girls.”
Senior captain Emily Harris is will be leading the team for the second straight year. Her combined singles and doubles record was 31-12 last season and she received All-PacWest Second Singles team honors and All-PacWest Second Doubles team honors alongside junior teammate Danae Ingwaldson.
Bohren is thankful to have a leader like Harris on the team and said “nobody is better and [more] durable” than the senior captain.
“She’s a perfect role model for the girls, being able to fill that good presence at No. 1 singles that she brings,” Bohren said. “A heck of a tennis player. I always say she’s a good tennis player, but she’s a better person.”
Harris said she is ready to lead her teammates and like last year, is honored to take this position. She is a player who leads by example through her performance during practices and matches.
According to Harris, the team has great chemistry and she is excited to play alongside her teammates and make memories during her last season.
“Having multiple years with these girls, I’ve really gotten to know them on and off the court. Playing day in, day out, hours on the court, you’re going to get close to the players you are playing with but also, the team bonding we’ve had off the court: a team trip to Santa Barbara, going out for the occasional bite to eat – we’ve really gotten to know each other as people and not just as teammates on the court,” Harris said. “I think that really makes us stronger as we go out and play this season.”
Both the men and women are ready to get the season started Saturday. Although Bohren’s first priority is to coach tennis, he said it’s really about teaching his players a life lesson in teamwork.
“That, really, goes into life and their jobs and everything elsewhere,” Bohren said. “You can’t do everything on your own; you’ve got to be part of something and you have to work with people, and I think this is such a good training ground as they leave APU and do whatever they want to do.”
Both teams will face Vanguard at home Saturday, Feb. 1. The women will start at 9:30 a.m. and the men will start at 11 a.m.