RIVER FOREST, ILL. – Gearing up for the 2025 season, the Concordia University Chicago Women's tennis team is set to take the home court this afternoon for the season opener.

Last Season
The Cougars kicked off last season with conference play immediately and struggled to get going. After falling in their first two matches, they secured their first win of the year against Lakeland University, winning 4-2. In their first win of the season, the Cougars saw strong doubles play, winning in two matches, as well as seeing three singles match victories.

Riding the momentum from their Lakeland victory, the Cougars downed Marian University in a dominating 7-0 fashion. In the win Tatiana Overton (Bolingbrook, Ill.) and Amirah Shakir (Dekalb, Ill.) and Jessica Parker (Lake in the Hills, Ill.) and Demi Presto-Martin (Brookfield, Ill.) started off the scoring for the Cougars winning both their matches. The winning carried over into singles matches, where all Cougars reigned victorious.

With a compilation of home and away matches, the Cougars struggled to gain momentum. They competed against Illinois Institute of Technology, Illinois College, Saint Mary's College, Illinois Wesleyan University, and Concordia University Wisconsin where the team found themselves unable to attain a win. Due to a second postponement from Alverno College, the Cougars received their third and final win of the season with an administrative forfeit. In their final four games of the season, the Cougars competed against St. Norbert, Wisconsin Lutheran College (WLC), Edgewood College, and Cornell College, where the only point they scored from all four matches came from Parker in her singles match against WLC.

"We had a great season last year," Head Coach Lenno Lasn noted.  "We did not show it on paper, but we definitely had great matches and team dynamic. This year, we will have lots of challenges to overcome because of the various reasons, but I am hopeful that we will have a good year."

Returning Players
The Cougars return two key players in Shakir and Overton. "We have only 2 returners this year, I am excited to have them back," Lasn discussed. "That would be a great test for them to step up and lead the team."

New Faces
The team welcomes a handful of new faces to the roster with Kathleen Castillo (Elmwood Park, Ill.), Aura Cortez-Cali (Berwyn, Ill.), Kira Holliday (Roselle, Ill.), Kalani Rodriguez-Colon (Chicago, Ill.) Courtneye Schneider (Plainfield, Ill.), and Hannah Upole (Hinkley, Ohio).

"This year's team is, unfortunately, little bit newer to the game, but they are really hard working group," said Lasn. "We have few new players on the team. There is a mix of players who would bring some strength to us and some who are just new to the game, but they do have lots of passion for tennis."
 
A Look Ahead
The season opens up with a non-conference match against Waubonsee Community College on September 4^th. They'll jump right back into action on Friday, September 5^th as they host Lawrence University for their final non-conference matchup before Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play begins on September 10^th as they host Lakeland University. NACC play continues with a road matchup against Marian University on September 13^th before coming back home to take on Illinois Institution of Technology on September 16^th. Mid-season will be broken up by a string of non-conference matches as they travel to take on Cornell College, Wartburg College, and Illinois College toward the end of September before coming back to CUC Courts for a Sunday, September 28^th match against Illinois Wesleyan University.

NACC play will resume with two matches against Concordia University Wisconsin and St. Norbert College with the latter coming on Homecoming Saturday, October 4^th. After taking on SNC in the morning, the Cougars will face Ripon College in the afternoon and then taking the quick trip up to Edgewood University on October 5^th. For their final match of the fall season, the Cougars will host Wisconsin Lutheran College on October 8^th.
 
"[Our] goal is to work hard and get little bit better every day," said Lasn.
 
The Cougars will gear up for match number one this afternoon (September 4^th) with a 4:00pm opening serve. Coverage can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.