Last season, men’s tennis player Eric West went undefeated in conference play as he earned the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year and helped the Salukis win a conference championship.

But he won’t be able to help the Salukis much as an Oklahoma State Cowboy.

West’s transfer to Oklahoma State University in the offseason, as well as the graduation of four seniors, has allowed four new freshmen and two transfers to join the team.

Advertisement

‘West was a pretty good guy, but these new guys are pretty good too,’ senior Lucas Waked said.

The Salukis return only three players – Waked, senior Anton Leonenko and sophomore Pavlo Buryi – from their 2009 Missouri Valley Conference Championship season.

Waked said the main goal was to show the new Salukis that college tennis is different and more of a team sport than an individual sport.

He said the newcomers should produce great results, but he is not expecting their best finishes in the first tournament.

‘For the first tournament coming up, I am not expecting a lot of results,’ Waked said. ‘I am expecting that they play how they are supposed to. That they play good and hard. As for results, I don’t think we are looking too much for it right now.’

Waked will only be participating in doubles play in the first tournament of the season in Lafayette, La., because of an injured arm.

The Salukis are coming off of their first conference title in 19 years and freshman Chikara Kidera said one of the team’s goals is to make it back to the top of the conference.

Advertisement*

‘Making the tournament is something that I want to accomplish,’ Kidera said. ‘It’s our goal to make it back to the NCAA tournament and hopefully do better than what we did last year.’

Kidera said he has enjoyed the team atmosphere and thinks the new players have fit right in with the returning Salukis.

‘I want to win as many matches for the team as I can,’ Kidera said. ‘I also want to be there for my team and support them. Hopefully they bring their part as well.’

Kidera and the new-look Salukis will have to wait a little longer to go for a repeat because team tournaments does not start until the spring semester. The fall season consists of individual tournaments.

Head coach Dann Nelson said while the Salukis are playing as individuals for now, they still travel as a team. He said he expects each player to support each other and prepare for the spring season.

‘We’re playing five tournaments, so hopefully we can do well in a few of them,’ Nelson said. ‘We have pretty much a brand new team so anything is possible. Our team is also very young. It’ll take some time for our younger players to get used to college tennis.’