The St. Thomas men’s and women’s tennis teams will play on campus for the first time in almost two years, starting their seasons Feb. 5 in the new Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex field house.

Tennis players are excited to return to campus.

“Compared to the old field house, this one is really nice,” men’s captain Matt Bergstrom said. “It’s much more realistic. We really appreciate it.”

Women’s captain Alex Frank agrees.

“It was hard to practice having to travel,” Frank said. “The whole team gets to practice together now.”

Coach Terry Peck said he is excited to have a place to call home.

“We love the new facilities,” he said. “I just wish more teams would come play us here.”

Men’s tennis looks to start hot

The Tommies finished the 2010 season 11-6 after starting the season 8-0. Bergstrom said playing Gustavus and Carleton was tough last season.

“We ran into the powerhouses,” Bergstrom said. “We played them really well and got in a lot of close matches. We just never really got over them at the end of the season.”

The Tommies return six key players this season, including senior Andy Michels, who was a repeat on the All-MIAC team for singles and doubles.

“We’re shooting high this season, top three in the conference,” Bergstrom said. “We only lost one senior, and we got three transfers and some pretty good freshmen.”

Peck said this team should have a very good season.

“We’re deep. We have good depth,” he said. “That will make us a tough team to beat.”

St. Thomas opens the season with University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, which finished 18-6 last season.

“We’ve had some really good practices, really competitive,” Bergstrom said. “We’ve had some inner-squad dual matches to prepare for match-setting.”

Young players on the women’s team

The women’s tennis team also finished 11-6 last season but is only returning three players. Seniors Madeline Gail and Alex Frank were named captains for a team that has no juniors.

“We had three seniors graduate, and I lost my doubles partner,” Frank said. “It’s hard going into the season without practicing with your partner a lot, but the freshmen are doing a good job and stepping up.”

The Tommies will open their season against Southwest Minnesota State University, which finished the season 9-11. Frank expects this to be a good match.

“We’re a young team, but we’re still expecting to have a good season,” Frank said. “ It will be a good non-conference match to get the freshmen comfortable in collegiate play.”

Peck agreed.

“We have some really good freshmen, and this match will help them develop,” he said. “I will be putting them in, so they will get comfortable.”

Brian Woitte can be reached at bmwoitte@stthomas.edu.