With four straight Empire 8 Championships, the women’s tennis team is looking to clinch its fifth consecutive year as the conference’s top team.  

After winning the league championship every year since the 2005-06 season, the Bombers are anticipating another big year. With 12 returning players, including two seniors, the team should be competing for the league title once more.

“We lost some good seniors off of last year, and we have good depth coming back,” Head Coach Bill Austin said. “One of our strengths is to go deep into the lineup and not just play our top six.”

Returning senior captains Devra Reiman and Sarah Hollis will help carry the team this season. Reiman and junior Agata Kubik both received All-Conference first team honors at singles last season for the first time in their careers. Reiman finished the season with a 7–4 overall record and a 4–2 conference record. Kubik went 5–1 overall and went a perfect 4–0 in the Empire 8.

The Blue and Gold finished the fall season with a perfect 11–0 overall record, including a perfect run in the conference at 8–0, making the decision to pick Austin for Empire 8 Coach of the Year an easy one.

“Every year we play like there is a big X on our back, but we can’t go into our match thinking this is going to be an easy one,” junior Melanie Cohen said. “We still have to come out and fight every time.”

The South Hill squad was recently voted as the favorite to win the Empire 8 title with a total of 64 points, finishing nine points higher than any other team, in the conference’s coaches’ poll.

“We’re everyone’s most important game,” Austin said.

The Bombers open their season in conference play against Elmira College on Wednesday at home. While winning the Empire 8 is the team’s main goal, Austin said there’s more to the game than winning.

Austin said he teaches his players ethics of sportsmanship and hard work. He said though the players want to win, they believe sportsmanship is more important.

Reiman said the Bombers feel that if they play their best on game-day they will be good enough to win the title again.

“I would like to work hard and finish up the career with four Empire 8 Championships,” Reiman said. “And if we can do that I would like to get through the second-round playoffs of the NCAAs.”

The Bombers have not only excelled on the court, but they have also carried over their talent to the classroom. Cohen, Michelle Duffy ’09, Lindsey Johnston ’09, Amanda Korba ’09 and Kubik were all named Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athletes for the 2008-09 season. The whole team was also picked to the ITA All-Academic Team, culminating in at least a 3.20 grade-point average.

There are five first-year players on the team, replacing five graduates, including Alyssa Jaffe ’09, who was the Most Valuable Player in the Empire 8 last season. Jaffe and Hollis tied for a team-high 10–1 singles record last fall.

But despite the loss of talented players, Austin said the freshmen and new players have added a good element to the team.

“They always add energy and enthusiasm,” Austin said. “And we’ve got some kids who can really hit it.”