With six new faces on the squad, Texas State tennis used its packed fall tournament season to embrace change, experiment on the court and foster a winning team culture ahead of its final run in the Sun Belt this spring.
The young team has big shoes to fill after four Bobcats graduated in the spring following a historic season of 16 total wins, the most in program history, and placing fourth overall in the conference.
This year, with six newcomers and four returners, the Bobcats have more depth on the court compared to last year’s roster of eight players.
Throughout competing in five fall tournaments, head coach Kendall Brooks is watching how this fresh-faced team is putting the pieces together one weekend at a time.
“I think anytime you have a lot of freshmen or new people, it’s always an adjustment to see new coaching, new place[s], all the things,” Brooks said. “So I’ve definitely felt like we’ve gotten better every tournament that we’ve come out.”
Among the newcomers are four freshmen from around the world: Olivia Collins from Adelaide, Australia; Stoney Cooks from Brooklyn, N.Y.; Zoe Du Pasquier Jensen from Copenhagen, Denmark; and Anastasia Radovanovic from Switzerland.
The Bobcats’ two transfer players include junior Tennessee Wesleyan transfer Julia Richardet from Cordoba, Argentina and sophomore Charlotte Roesch from Stuttgart, Germany, who previously played one year at San Diego State.
Returners include two sophomores, Tadiwa Mauchi and Chantajah Mills, and two Bobcat veterans, seniors Ireland Simme and Emily Niers. Niers has spent all four years of her collegiate career with Texas State.
The Bobcats five tournaments helped Texas State experiment with doubles pairs and build individual confidence with the help of the whole team.
“Because there’s so many new people to college tennis on our team, I think getting through it together, helping each other and adjusting to the new environment has been nice because we’re all sort of going through it together,” Cooks said.
Also making new adjustments are veterans Niers and Simme, who have stepped into leadership roles this season for the first time.
“I feel like it’s on me to set the standards in what we had last year and try to replicate that this year,” Niers said. “I’m not the most vocal person ever, so it took me a little bit, but I think now that I’ve kind of gotten used to it, it’s really fun.”
Ahead of the spring season, the duo is focusing on helping their teammates to adopt a team-centered mindset.
“I really think it’s [most important] to turn our mindset away from the individual and focus on the fact that it is now a team sport,” Niers said. “We have to fight for not only ourselves, but for each other player that’s on the court at the same time.”
The fall proved to be a time to build team culture and a chance to experiment with new things, especially when it came to doubles, according to Brooks.
“It’s always fun in the fall to kind of try new things, and that’s basically what we’ve been doing every tournament is [try] new lineups, new pairings and doubles just to see who’s going to be the best fit moving into the spring,” Brooks said. “I wouldn’t say anything is set in stone right now [for doubles pairs], but we got a lot of good looks.”
The Bobcats will get a chance to put all that practice to the test when they pick back up in the spring semester for two matches against Wichita State and the University of Oklahoma on Jan. 17 in Norman, Okla.
