Sept. 7, 2009
By Sarah Bishop
UCFAthletics.com
With the fall opener just around the corner for the UCF men's tennis team, head coach Bobby Cashman's excitement is revving up. The Knights get their fall schedule underway on the road at the Southern Intercollegiates (Sept. 17) in Athens, Ga.
The Knights play five fall tournaments, with three in Florida, including the Florida State Invitational (Oct. 2-4) and the USF Invitational (Oct. 30-Nov. 1). After hosting the UCF Invitational (Oct. 9-11), the Knights will return to Athens, Ga., for ITA Regional Championships (Oct. 22-25).
With a tough season ahead, Cashman has high expectations.
"Besides performing well, I would like to see us get wins over ranked teams; it has been done in the past. We need to get better physically because what we do now will carry over to the spring. All the fall really is [about] is coming together as a group," Cashman said.
With Cashman returning five letterwinners from last year's squad, and two freshmen joining the team, he is excited to see his team in action. "All coaches really use the fall to let the freshman get their feet wet, and see the level of competition they can play at, to see what they have to work on, and allow them to get better physically and mentally. "
Rejoining the team in competition this fall are two players who missed the spring campaign due to injury, sophomore Claudio Romano (Valencia, Venezuela) and senior Brock Sakey (Gulf Breeze, Fla.).
"I feel the fall is big for both of them; one being they are back in the mix and secondly comfort ability with getting back in. Claudio did a good job getting right back in but Brock's was a little bit different, he had to slowly get back. He needs matches and to get that competitive spirit back. When you are out of competition for a long time you lose that. They are still working the drive, ball speed and doing well in practice," Cashman said.
With the usual tough competition, Cashman's plan is to have the Knights prepared for spring. "We are going to go through the fall season and have some matches we can look back on and learn from."