Nashville Standard

The Belmont University women's tennis team will begin its first spring journey in the Missouri Valley Conference as the preseason favorite to win the league. Announced by the conference office Tuesday morning, the Bruins have been selected at the top of the 2023 MVC women's tennis preseason poll with six first-place votes and 75 total voting points.
 
Illinois State has been chosen second in the preseason predicted order of finish with 67 total points, while the University of Illinois Chicago is third with three first-place nods and 65 points. The nine-team league's preseason poll has Drake in fourth place with 53 voting points, followed by Murray State fifth (50), Valparaiso sixth (35), Bradley seventh (27), Missouri State eighth (22) and Northern Iowa ninth (11).
 
Belmont enters 2023 following a strong fall campaign in which the Bruins captured two MVC individual titles. Eager for the challenging spring championship season, Belmont has high hopes for its inaugural year in the conference.
 
Under the direction of first-year head coach Dané Vorster, the Bruins began their MVC era in October with impressive performances in Springfield, Missouri, at Belmont's first MVC Individual Championships. Freshman Mariia Hlahola, a native of Kyiv, Ukraine, claimed the league's top singles championship, while sophomore Anastasiya Zholdakova, also a Kyiv, Ukraine, native, and graduate student Meredith Roberts won the No. 3 doubles flight.
 
In her first semester, Hlahola went on to reach the round of 16 in the singles main draw at the highly-competitive Intercollegiate Tennis Association Ohio Valley Regional Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Bruins were also dominant at their Belmont/Lipscomb Fall Invite at the Belmont Tennis Complex.
 
All told, Belmont went 18-8 in doubles action during the fall and posted 32 singles wins.
 
The Bruins look to pick up right where they left off as Belmont faces a rigorous non-conference schedule before getting into MVC play. Prior to their eight-match league schedule, which gets underway Sunday, March 19 when Valparaiso visits the Belmont Tennis Complex, the Bruins will take on a 13-match non-conference slate.
 
Taking on four Power Five conference opponents on the road in February, Belmont will visit Southeastern Conference mainstays Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Auburn, in addition to the Big Ten Conference's Indiana. All three SEC opponents finished 2022 ranked in the top 70 nationally while Auburn starts the season ranked 14th in the ITA Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll.
 
Playing four of their first five matches in the Music City, the Bruins open with in-state NCAA Division II member Lee University on Sunday, Jan. 22 at the Ensworth Tennis Center. First serve is set for 11 a.m.
 
Belmont returns six letter winners from last year while welcoming freshmen Hlahola and Libbie Hamilton (Mobile, Ala.). The Bruins went 13-8 last season and posted a 5-2 record in the Ohio Valley Conference, tying for second in the eight-team league. The 13 match victories represented the most for the program in a single season since 2004. 

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