With almost every contributor from last season's team returning, the NYU women's tennis program is awash with optimism heading into 2010-11.  Entering his 18th year as head coach of the women's team, Horace Choy believes his squad has the right mix of talent and experience to make great strides this year.

“I'm definitely very optimistic about the women's team this year,” said Choy.  “We had a tough time fielding our top lineup last year due to injuries and other issues.  We only had our best lineup twice all year, and in one of those matches we beat up on MIT.  So we definitely have the talent to do well.”

Leading the Violets this season will be sophomore Alexa Wimes and senior Elizabeth Stachtiaris, each of whom has competed at No. 1 singles during their respective careers.

Other key returnees for NYU this season include seniors Liz Feldman, Lisa Mijovic, Sara Joo, and Lena Krups, as well as sophomores Flora Lee, Becky Kumar, Ariel Sultan and Tiffany Thong.

“Lisa (Mijovic) is a team captain and a great leader,” said Choy.  “Liz (Stachtiaris) is in her third year with the team, but will be graduating early.  So, this is her last season with us.  She brings a lot of intensity to practice and to matches.  She doesn't take a break from competing.  That's something all of our players can learn from.”

Perhaps the biggest key to success for NYU will be the fact that the team should be much deeper this season and in a better position to handle the attrition of a long campaign.

“A lot of the players who were forced into playing last year gained valuable experience," Choy explained.  "So now that we will be getting some players back, we will be much deeper and hopefully won't run into the problems we did last year.”

The Violets open the season on the weekend of Sept. 11-12 at the Swarthmore College Invitational.