A new era has started for Guilford’s men’s and women’s tennis teams this spring. Dave McCain took over as the coach of both teams last summer after five years at Greensboro College. While McCain arrives at Guilford, others have left. The Quakers will miss the effort and consistency of Alec Chase ’10 and Will Mason-Deese ’10, who were the focal points for most of their four years. The pair combined for 58 singles wins and 99 doubles victories in their careers. For the women, Megan Fair ’10 was a consistent player who had 35 singles wins and 17 doubles wins in her career.
In 2011, McCain has put together a solid team thanks to some experienced returning players, some early returns on his recruiting efforts, and his message to the team. “Be in shape to play. Be consistent and develop support for each other,” said McCain. “Every player can help his teammates.”
Despite the losses of Chase, Mason-Deese and fellow senior Patrick Childs to graduation, the Quakers have found emerging talent prepared to step in and produce right away. Tyler Mercier, a first-year, has immediately made waves claiming the team’s first-singles position. Through his first five matches of the spring he has a record of 5-0.
The Quakers’ number two player is also a product of McCain’s recruiting. He brought his number-one singles player from Greensboro, junior Clayton Hamilton, with him as well. Hamilton has a lot of experience working with McCain and will most likely challenge Mercier for the number-one singles spot. In Hamilton’s first five matches of the year he has only one singles loss and recorded a first-singles victory over his former team.
Mercier and Hamilton also make up the number-one doubles team this season. They have had as much success working together as working alone. So far this season Mercier and Hamilton have dominated their opponents, only losing two sets before falling to Methodist Feb. 26 in a thriller.
The addition of McCain has helped the team early as Guilford is off to its best start since 2005. The coach attributes much of the Quakers success to its depth. “Most teams have good one, two and three guys, but this year we have real depth and are even solid into the fourth, fifth and sixth positions,” said McCain.
This should pose an advantage for the Quakers who can use veteran players such as sophomore Mark Cheong and junior Brandon Johnson in the lower flights.
The Guilford was picked fifth in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) preseason poll and only seven points out of fourth place. The men look to continue their success this season as possible contenders in the ODAC. Their next three matches are against conference opponents, starting with Bridgewater Saturday March 5th.
On the women’s side of the net, Guilford has significant experience returning, as five starters are back from 2009-10. Senior captain Nina Bollag and senior Liz Killion both have played all four years. However, Guilford is fairly young with three sophomores and two first-years in the lineup.
One of the team’s standout young players is first year Natalie Sutton. She had a successful fall season and reached the finals of her flight’s Fall ODAC Championships. Classmate Anne Mogavero, of Evansville, Ind., is another up-and-coming rookie who cracked the lineup at fourth singles early on.
There is no question that this year’s women’s team has a competitive fire. The Quakers are looking to make their presence felt in the ODAC this year and surprise most teams. In the ODAC preseason poll they were picked to finish seventh.
The team has battled against some early season injuries, but McCain feels once everyone is healthy, Guilford should be an ODAC contender. Currently, the women’s team has a .500 record with three wins and three losses. Two out of their three wins came with opponents not winning a set. The team is also .500 in the ODAC with a win against Randolph-Macon and a loss to Hollins.
“I think if the girls can stay healthy throughout the season then they will have good individual seasons, and as such, we will have a strong season as a whole,” said McCain.
With sophomore Mackey Wesner back for a second season as Guilford’s number one player, and Bollag and Killion filling in the middle flights, Sutton and Mogavero have good examples to follow.
If the newcomers can make the transition to college tennis and the veterans maintain their competitive fire and consistency, look for a solid season from Guilford’s women.
