COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The Maryland women's tennis team will begin its spring season against Harvard on Sunday. Coming off the best season in program history, head coach Daria Panova's squad is looking to build on a strong fall season that featured three doubles championships and a pair of doubles semifinalists at ITA Atlantic Regionals.
FALL RECAP
Maryland had a successful fall schedule, participating in six tournaments. Maryland captured three doubles titles: two from Arnelle Sullivan and Millie Stretton, and a third from Katsiaryna Yemelyanenka and Zoe Kulkarni.
Sullivan and Stretton won to begin the season at the Columbia Invitational and then followed it with a title at the Kitty Harrison Invitational. They became the third-consecutive Maryland doubles team to win the Kitty Harrison title. Yemelyanenka and Kulkarni were victorious at the Navy Blue and Gold Invitational.
The Terps also had two doubles semifinalists at ITA Atlantic Regionals. The team of Sullivan and Stretton, along with the duo of Ekaterina Tour and Eva Alexandrova, both dropped semifinal matches to doubles teams from Virginia. It was the second-consecutive season Maryland had at least one doubles team reach the semifinals, after Kristina Hovsepyan and Alexandra Stanova previously won the event in 2016.
Two Terrapins earned singles titles in the fall, both coming at the Navy Blue and Gold Invitational. Yemelyanenka won the 'Singles A' division while SayaUsui won the 'Singles B' flight.
ONE LAST TOUR
Senior Ekaterina Tour is primed for a successful campaign in her final season as a Terrapin.
The Tel Aviv-native led the Terps in both doubles and singles wins during her junior season, picking up 15 doubles wins and 16 singles victories. She is expected to move into the top singles spot in Maryland's lineup after spending most of last season in the No. 2 position.
Tour will also likely play doubles in the top spot of Maryland's lineup after playing No. 2 doubles last season.
FRESH FACES
After graduating a record-setting senior class, Maryland welcomed three new additions to its roster for the 2017-18 season. Head coach Daria Panova added freshmen Eva Alexandrova and Zoe Kulkarni, along with Kansas State transfer Millie Stretton.
Alexandrova comes to Maryland as one of the highest rated recruits in program history. She was 118th in the ITF International Rankings when she signed her National Letter of Intent. She won a Grade 3 ITF Tournament in Kazakhstan and spent the summer before coming to Maryland playing tournaments in Asia.
Kulkarni was rated the No. 39 recruit in the class of 2017, according to tennisrecruiting.net. She played nationally and internationally on the junior tennis circuit. In 2016, she won the Reel Tennis Open Championships and in 2015 she reached the semifinals of the Copa Coqui – Cabo Rojo ITF Tournament. She was the top-ranked player out of Oregon and was rated the No. 2 player in the Northwest region.
Stretton comes to Maryland from Kansas State where she had an extremely successful first two seasons. Playing at the top of the rotation in both her freshman and sophomore seasons, she posted a team-high 20 singles wins in her first year. The total was good for most by a freshman in Wildcat history. She also picked up 14 doubles wins, which earned her a spot on the All-Big 12 freshman team.
She also earned 17 singles and doubles wins in her sophomore season.
SUPER PANOVA
After guiding Maryland to its best season in program history, head coach Daria Panova was named the 2017 Wilson/ITA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year. Panova led Maryland to a 16-6 record, with a program-best seven conference victories.
She also coached Maryland's doubles duo of Kristina Hovsepyan and Alexandrova Stanova to the ITA National Indoor Tournament after the two were victorious at ITA Atlantic Regionals.
Panova earned her 50th victory at Maryland last season after the Terps topped Minnesota.
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
Maryland's roster features student-athletes from five countries outside of the United States.
The Terps currently have representatives from the United Kingdom, Russia, Israel, Japan and Belarus.
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