Ragin' Cajuns Ready To Take On 2018 Season Together

LAFAYETTE – Collegiate tennis is an interesting animal, it's an individual sport packaged and delivered as a team sport. A loss from one player doesn't mean a loss for the team, and team success can be just as satisfying, if not more satisfying then individual wins.

Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's tennis head coach Stephanie Vallejos has the challenge of getting the young Ragin' Cajuns women's tennis team to embrace the team aspect of the spring season, with the goal of team successes trickling down to individual success as the Cajuns grow throughout the season.

"It could be a challenge for us this year, to get the women to understand the team aspect of collegiate tennis," said Vallejos. "Since we've got a large amount of our team that's never experienced a spring season where they play as team.

"But the goal is for the women to learn that even on days where they lose individually, the team can still be successful and it's about showing your teammates support. Because you never know when momentum might shift and to see your teammate right next to you fighting to win their match, no matter the score, can be motivating for everyone on the court."

On the court the Cajuns are young and will have to learn what coach Vallejos is looking to teach them, but the young women do have some solid leadership to follow out into their matches to learn how to handle the different aspects of an individual sport playing as a team sport.

Seniors Kelly Drew, Abby Johnson and Elena Sava, along with junior Carla Ortega all have plenty of experience navigating through a spring season. "It's going to be good," said Vallejos. "For the younger players to see how their elder peers balance the pressure of playing through a spring season, and how to make tennis a team event."

Looking to learn from the Cajuns upperclassmen are a deep collection of younger women that coach Vallejos has assembled. They include, sophomores Milena Achlamov and Marina Rodriguez Garcia and a large freshman class that is made up of Morgan Forshag, Kate McMahon, Floriane Picaut, Dana Radovanovic and Kim Yatribi.

For Louisiana the fall has already provided some successes, with Picaut and Radovanovic getting their feet wet by having some solid performances. "Flo started off strong for us in what was our first tournament of the season along with her first collegiate tournament. And Dana really stepped up and played some big matches."

Picaut made it all the way to the singles finals of the Contender Crossfit Islander Open and Radovanovic advanced to the semifinals of the ITA Southern Regionals' B Draw and the two freshmen won the Contender Crossfit Islander Open doubles title to get some experience under their belts.

Along with those individual success, the Cajuns are also returning two women who both suffered injuries in the 2017 season. Garcia, who tore her ACL during the first spring match of her freshman year, and Sava who injured her knee during the 2016 fall season, are both back on the court after returning from their respective injuries during the 2017 fall season.

"It helps to have Elena and Marina back in the lineup," said Vallejos. "Not just because they add talent to our lineup, but the fact that they're returning players from previous season's means they've seen competition before.

"The experience they have helps them a lot and it gives some comfort to the team knowing that they have a lot of people on their side to help when they need a day off and they know that there's even more people in their corner helping to give them that extra push they might need."

That extra push will be big for the Cajuns women, when they face off with some of the tough competition that is on their 2018 schedule. They open up at home with seven consecutive matches starting on Jan. 27 with a doubleheader against Southern and LSU-Alexandria. They finish that weekend off with a Sunday matchup against Southeastern Louisiana on Jan. 28.

Next up they'll face off with Northwestern State on Jan. 31 and that upcoming weekend they'll host a double header with Xavier (La.) on Feb. 3. They finish off their season opening home stretch by hosting Louisiana Tech on Feb. 4.

Louisiana's first road matches are a tough weekend in Texas. They start with a matchup against Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas on Feb. 9, and they follow that up with a matchup against the Texas A&M Aggies on Feb. 10 in College Station, Texas.

Texas A&M finished the 2017 season ranked No. 16 nationally and they advanced to the round of 16 in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, beating ULM and No. 16 Baylor on their way to falling to No. 1 Florida. Texas A&M provides a unique opportunity for Louisiana's women to see where the bar sits for a top program in the country and how far a team can go when they play together.

"When you play Power Five schools, or schools with major programs, it's good for the women to see that level of competition so that they know what they're training for," said Vallejos. "They can see the possibilities of what a team can be when they all play together. For us It's important to see that, because I want the women to know that this is our goal, to reach that level of competition and success.

"Individually it helps us as well, because down the road, when the women face those kinds of schools again they can feel comfortable knowing that they've seen that type of ball coming at them, and that level of competition isn't something new to them."

The Cajuns return home to host Jackson State in a doubleheader on Feb. 17 and they then host Southern Miss. on Feb. 25. From there Louisiana hits the road again when they head to Prairie View, Texas to face Oral Roberts on Mar. 10 and the hosting Prairie View A&M Panthers later that same day.

Louisiana heads to Houston, Texas to face the Houston Cougars on Mar. 12 before heading up north on Mar. 24 for a weekend in Monroe, La. where they'll face the Texas State Bobcats (Mar. 24) and the hosting ULM Warhawks on Mar. 25. A home doubleheader on Mar. 31 against Prairie View A&M and Alcorn State is sandwiched in-between another Sun Belt Conference matchup when on Apr. 6 they head to San Marcos, Texas to face the Arkansas State Red Wolves (Apr. 6) and UT-Arlington on Apr. 7.

Things wrap up in New Orleans, La., when the Cajuns face off at Tulane on Apr. 13 before they head to Peachtree City, Ga., for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, which starts on Apr. 19.

It's tough to teach a young group how to play as a team in a sport that's so individually driven, but in collegiate tennis that's the goal. To sell the women on playing together and joining in on each other's successes no matter if they win individually on that day or not.

This Cajuns team is posed to learn those lessons together and grow throughout the season, and each woman will become a better player on the court because they know that they're not alone in the fight for a Sun Belt Conference Championship.

#GEAUXCAJUNS

Ragin' Cajuns Ready To Take On 2018 Season Together

Players Mentioned

Milena Achlamov

Kelly Drew

Morgan Forshag

Abby Johnson

Kate McMahon

Carla Ortega

Floriane Picaut

Dana Radovanovic

Marina Rodriguez Garcia

Elena Sava

Kim Yatribi

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