The Saint Louis University Women’s Tennis team opened up their season last Friday, Jan. 19 and Saturday, Jan. 20 in Chicago against DePaul University and Northwestern University. The Billikens fell to both the Dibs and the Wildcats, 2-5 and 0-7 respectively.  The team travels to Purdue University next for a match on Jan. 26.  

Sophomore Mariluz Rojo said she is looking forward to traveling all over the country with her teammates this season. The tennis team will travel to Rhode Island, North Carolina and New York for conference matches, as well as Florida for the A-10 Championship Match.  

The biggest strength for the team this year is how passionate the girls are about their sport. Their love for the game is what motivates them every day in practice and in matches. Rojo said, “I want to improve some technical aspects of my game.”

In collegiate tennis, each player plays both singles and doubles giving players the opportunity to try multiple variations of the sport and allows teams to strategize how to use their players to set the team up best for success.

The main goal for the team this season is to win the A-10 conference. The team lost in the third round last season to VCU and are hoping to make another strong run into the playoffs this season. The team finished with a record of 16-8 last year.