MEADVILLE, Pa. – On Saturday, February 7th, the Allegheny women's tennis squad will take the court for the first time since September 23rd, looking to utilize the momentum from last fall to chase the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) crown this spring.

The Gators opened the 2014-15 season with a 9-0 win over Baldwin Wallace as part of the 2014 Nancy J. Heath Invitational on September 6th, falling to Division II member Mercyhurst (Sept. 23) and John Carroll (Sept. 23) to close out the dual meet schedule.  In addition to the dual meet schedule, the Blue and Gold also participated in the Oberlin Invitational and Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Championships, the latter of which took place in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

"The fall season had its ups and downs. We had a very dominating shut out win over Baldwin Wallace and then a couple tough losses to some good teams," commented Allegheny head coach Jared Luteran.  "Our women have been working hard in the offseason and we've had only a few official practices to get ready for our first match against Case. We are looking forward to some very good, nationally ranked competition."

Junior Andrea Brush finished the fall season with a 6-3 record, posting a 4-2 tournament record for the Gators, while classmate Sun Mo Koo posted a 5-2 mark alongside an identical, 4-2 fall in tournament play.  Koo and junior Sloane Prince combined to go 6-1 in doubles play, including a 4-0 mark in tournaments to compliment a 2-1 mark at top-flight doubles.  The team of Brush and junior Mikaela Pope went 4-4 in the fall, including a 2-1 record at second-flight.

The spring will commence on Saturday, Feb. 7, when the Gators battle Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.  The squad will then travel to Erie, Pennsylvania on Feb. 22 to faceoff against Westminster in a final tune-up before the squad's annual trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina for Spring Break, which will take place from Mar. 15-20.

Allegheny will open the home portion of the 2015 schedule on Mar. 27 against Washington & Jefferson, one of three consecutive days of meets for the Gators, who will welcome Wittenberg and Ohio Wesleyan on Mar. 28 & 29, respectively.  The regular season will close against Grove City (Apr. 9) and Denison (Apr. 11) before road divisional matches against Kenyon (Apr. 12), Wooster (Apr. 17) and Oberlin (Apr. 18).

The North Coast Athletic Conference tournament will take place from Apr. 24-26 in Gambier, Ohio, as Kenyon College will welcome the NCAC Membership for the annual postseason tournament.  For Coach Luteran and the Gators, the spring presents an opportunity to continue a tradition of strong play for the Blue and Gold, a legacy that the squad hopes to build on starting this Saturday.

"We haven't had a losing record in 5 years (since the '09-10 season) and we hope to keep that streak going," concluded Luteran.  "We certainly don't play an easy schedule and it says a lot about how tough our women are."