LAKE CHARLES –
Helena Besovic will roam the courts in her first matches this weekend as the head coach of the McNeese women's tennis team, when the Cowgirls travel to Baton Rouge to kick off the 2015 season with matches against Southern and LSU.
McNeese is slated to begin the season with a match against the Lady Jaguars at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 17 and will conclude the weekend with a contest against the Tigers at noon on Sunday, Jan. 18.
"We are very excited to start our season this weekend against Southern and LSU," said Besovic. "We have returned from the winter break ready to compete and hungry for the season. All the hard work that we've done during fall practice is going to be manifested in the spring and we can't wait to start competing. This weekend is the first step for us in a long race of this season. I'm looking forward to some competitive tennis matches and a good start for us."
Coming off of one of the most successful seasons in program history, the Cowgirls are expected to be among the top contenders to compete for the Southland Conference title. McNeese made great strides last season when the squad finished with a 16-7 overall record, a 10-2 mark in league play and an appearance in the SLC Tournament semi-finals.
Leading the charge for the Cowgirls will be two-time Southland Conference Player of the Year
Klaudia Gawlik who enters the season with a 40-2 overall mark in singles action.
McNeese returns three others from last season's team including senior
Andreea Nenu, sophomore
Vivien Borbely and All-SLC second team selection
Julia Kral. Kral was also chosen to the All-Louisiana team last June.
The Cowgirls welcome newcomers
Anastasija Trubich,
Hannah Brett and
Sarah Jurakova to the court this spring. After a great showing in the fall, the newcomers are expected to make an immediate impact during the season.
Southern enters the 2015 season having captured eight wins last season while LSU finished with a 14-14 overall mark that was capped off with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
