ELMHURST, Ill. - The Summit League released the 2015 Summit League Women's Tennis Preseason Poll on Thursday and the IUPUI women's tennis team was picked seventh in a vote of the league's head coaches.
Denver, who is ranked No. 65 in the ITA Poll, was picked to finish first after winning the regular-season and tournament titles last year. The Pioneers garnered seven first-place votes and totaled 49 points, and they were followed by Fort Wayne who picked up the other first-place vote and 41 points. South Dakota State was slotted in third followed by South Dakota, Omaha and Oral Roberts in that order. IUPUI picked up 17 points and Western Illinois rounded things out with six points.
Yulia Smirnova is in her second season leading the women's program, but her first after serving as the interim head coach a season ago. Despite picking up one Summit League win a season ago, IUPUI showed steady improvement throughout the year and lost three league matches by the slimmest of margins.
"I am looking forward to our spring season. The girls worked very hard in the Fall and we are ready to get better," Smirnova said. "We have very talented, hard-working freshmen that brought a positive dynamic to our team."
"We have very competitive schedule and it will get us prepared for our conefrence matches. We were very close with most of the teams in our conefrence last year, so taking that experience and bringing new freshmen should make us very competitve,"
Smirnova added."We just have to stay focused on little things during practices and matches and keep working hard every day."
Smirnova welcomes back four returners in seniors
Abbey Neff and
Rachael Bridegroom, junior
Bobbi Modesto and sophomore
Rachel Swartwood. Three talented freshmen also join the fold in
Samantha Mayer,
Valeriia Lavrenchuk and
Marina Schneiger.
IUPUI opens its 2015 spring campaign on Saturday, Jan. 17, when it welcomes Dayton to the West Indy Racquet Club. The match is set to begin at 2 p.m.
2015 WOMEN'S TENNIS PRESEASON POLL| Rank | School (1st-place votes) | Pts. |
| 1. | Denver (7) | 49 |
| 2. | Fort Wayne (1) | 41 |
| 3. | South Dakota State | 33 |
| 4. | South Dakota | 27 |
| 5. | *Omaha | 23 |
| 6. | Oral Roberts | 22 |
| 7. | IUPUI | 21 |
| 8. | Western Illinois | 6 |
* not eligible for championship (final year of NCAA Division I transition)
