Under head coach, Ross Brown, Governors have kicked off the season right. “Overall it’s a very good place to start out the year, but there is no question we have areas to improve. I’m proud of our women and I believe what we conveyed to conference teams is that we are going to be tough again,” Brown said.
For the third straight season, the Govs opened with the APSU Fall Invitational. APSU’s Women’s tennis hosted this event this past Friday and Saturday, Sept. 13 and 14.
Last year in the Flight 1 Singles, Govs made up three of the four semifinal spots, with Lidia Yanes Garcia defeating Fabienne Schmidt in the all-Austin Peay final.
In the Flight 2 Singles, sophomore-transfer Martina Paladini-Jennings and freshman Sarah Heckel represented the Govs. Paladini-Jennings came to the Governors after a successful season at East Carolina, where she was 17-8 in singles play.
“I feel that we as a team are very close which is very important and I think that this will make us stronger together. We work hard together and I believe that we can have a great impact against other teams for 2019-2020,” Paladins-Jennings said. “Although there a strong team in our conference, I believe we will all fight our battles to our very best and that is what I expect from all of us.”
A true freshman, Heckel, is the second German-born player on the Gov’s roster and was ranked No. 117 in the German women’s rankings before coming to Clarksville to begin her collegiate career.
Governors took home-court advantage to another level with 4 achievements under their belts. Paladini-Jennings who won Flight 2 in singles. Alongside Jennings were her teammates Danielle Morris and Schmidt.
Morris is also a sophmore who last season during her freshman year ended the 2018-19 season with going 17-3 in singles and 12-3 in doubles. Schmidt and Morris Scored a win in Flight 1 doubles.
In addition to Schmidt’s doubles victory, she also dominated in Flight 1 singles.
Governors will go on the road Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27 and 28 in the UCA Fall Classic in Corway, Arkansas.
