The women’s team came off of a losing season last year ranking eighth place in the Ohio Valley Conference and going 5-14 overall.

This year things may change.

The team has a new coach and over 60 percent of the roster is new.

At his previous position as head coach at Coker College in Hartsville, S.C., John Blackburn took a team that had taken a year off of competition and transformed them into seventh place finishers in the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference.

The finish was higher than Coker had seen in over a decade.

Blackburn is optimistic about Eastern and his first season.

“We’ve committed to a real system,” he said. “In the fall we were working on mechanics and trying to focus on individual needs and hopefully those things pay off for us in the spring.”

“The weak point, if there is one, is probably just experience.”

The women’s team is new to each other.

Senior Jill Wirtz, junior Madina Mambetova and sophomore Sandra Sasidharan are the only three returnees.

The other five players on the team are all new to Eastern and a few are new to the country.

Jenny Will and Canadian Natalie Martin are freshman.

Walk-ons sophomore Samantha Lininger and junior Cristina Carillo join the women. Filling out the roster is transfer student Stephanie Harmazy who is also a Canadian native.

In addition to getting used to new teammates, the women will also have the obstacle that most players at the college level encounter when they enter a tennis program. Most players have had minimal team play experience from high school.

“They’ve all played tennis before but team tennis is very new to them.” Blackburn said.

“The atmosphere alone will be something to get used to.”

In college matches, spectators are allowed to cheer on the competitors from the stands and they will now be playing for a team score.

Harmazy played individual in the past and transferred here to play tennis as part of a team.

“We have the same goals,” she said. “It’s easier to practice and more fun.”

“My teammates are probably the best part of tennis,” Will said. “Everyone is very supportive of each other and it is amazing how eight girls from different backgrounds mesh together so amazingly.”

Blackburn admits the strongest point of this year’s team is their chemistry.

The women give credit to their coach.

“For being a new coach he’s developed a great relationship with the team,” Harmazy said.

She said he knows when to be strict and when to be fun on and off of the court.

“He’s really dedicated and helps us to maintain focus during practice,” Sasidharan said.

In the fall and preseason the women have been working hard on mechanics and focusing on individual needs.

“Personal goals for me are to just keep on improving my game to contribute to the success of the entire team,” said Will.

Lininger wants to win as many matches as she can for herself and her team.

The Panthers are trying to reverse a trend that goes back for a decade.

They have not been in the conference’s top three since joining in 1997.

In 2003, the Panthers had their best finish after going 5-2 in the conference and finishing in fourth place.

Jacksonville State, Tennessee Tech and Eastern Kentucky have been the conference’s dominant teams in recent years.

But the Panthers aren’t giving anything up.

Eastern is likely to see the return of the Mambetova/Sasidharan doubles pair, who finished last season undefeated.

The OVC championship is the goal and if the team’s effort is there the way it was throughout the fall, success will be there, Blackburn said.