WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University women's tennis team is set to start its 2022 spring season on Saturday, February 12 under the direction of first-year head coach Todd Kane.

Kane, the owner and program director of TK Tennis Academy, has always wanted to get into college coaching and this was the perfect opportunity to take over as the next head coach of Wilkes men's and women's tennis.

"We are the only school within 300 to 400 miles that has an indoor facility to train at," Kane said. "I think everyone is just really excited to get going, they have been playing so much more tennis than they played before."

The Colonels went 14-1 last season and have won 14 consecutive conference championships and made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances between 2007 and 2021. They made it to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament last season.

Senior Dasha Yakhnis (Verona, NJ/Verona) is a two-time First Team All-Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) player and has a 26-18 career singles record primarily from the No. 1 through No. 3 positions. Senior Alexa Cieri (Matawan, NJ/St. John Vianney) was the 2019 ITA Southeast Regional champion at E Singles and has a career 30-1 singles record primarily from the No. 5 and No. 6 positions. Cieri was runner-up at No. 4 singles at the MAC Individual Championship in the fall with a 3-1 record.

"We have two seniors who do a lot of winning over the course of their career and then we have a very young team outside of that," Kane said of his roster. "Having Dasha leading them is great, she has been such a good leader and she has taken the transition really well and Alexa has been in the same boat as well, she has been thrown a new coach and I think she has handled it extremely well which kind of sets the tone for the younger players."

The rest of the roster is made up of three sophomores and two first-year players.

Cassidy Greenman (Glen Gardner, NJ/Voorhees), Zoe Klein (Southbury, CT/Pomperaug), and Kaitlyn O'Neil (Jim Thorpe, PA/Jim Thorpe) are the sophomores on the roster. Greenman went 10-1 from the No. 3 and No. 4 singles position last season and Klein went 9-0 from the No. 5 position. O'Neil was 1-1 in singles action last season and 1-0 in doubles.

In the fall Greenman earned runner-up at the MAC Individual Championships at No. 3 singles with a 3-1 record. Klein went 2-1 at the event at No. 2 singles and O'Neil was 2-1 at No. 6 singles.

Theresa Amerise (Mountain Top, PA/Holy Redeemer) and Sydney Farmer (Lanoka Harbor, NJ/Lacey Township) are the first year members of the team and both had a great fall season. Amerise won the No. 5 singles title at the MAC Individual Championship with a 3-0 run and Farmer also went 3-0 to win the No. 7 singles title.

"Amerise will definitely move up in the lineup somewhere between two and four," Kane remarked. "She is very good, very tough, makes a lot of balls and is going to make opponents play. Farmer was able to play in the MAC Championship and win a title, she is new to the sport but she fights and she can put balls in."

The Colonels will start the season welcoming the University of Scranton to the TK Academy on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. for a non-conference match. Wilkes will face 11 other non-conference opponents during the season including Division I Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. on April 2nd.

Wilkes, who was selected second in the MAC Freedom Preseason Coaches' Poll, will begin its seven-match conference slate on April 3rd against FDU-Florham in a match held at Drew University. The Colonels will face MAC Freedom favorite Stevens Institute of Technology on the road on April 9th.

"Our conference is very good, I do think it is important for us to get outside the conference and challenge ourselves a little bit," Kane said of the 2022 schedule.

Kane knows there are teams that can challenge them within the MAC Freedom but ultimately he is confident in his team saying, "I like my team, I like my roster, I think we will navigate it very well."