CSI No. 1 Singles ace Gabriella Villarruel returns for the Dolphins for her senior campaign.
The College of Staten Island women's tennis team will be looking to set a new, impressive mark on the 2010 campaign, bringing back a host of talent while adding a trio of players who are expected to compete at a high level. CSI will kick off the season against St. Joseph's College of Patchogue tomorrow afternoon at the CSI Tennis Center at 12 Noon. What the Dolphins lack in roster numbers (CSI boasts just nine players on the roster), the team hopes to make up with talent from top to bottom, one that will look to improve on an 8-11 season a year ago.
CSI finished 5-4 in conference play last year, but were a first-round exit come playoff time, something the Dolphins are looking to turn around in 2010.
"We want to establish ourselves as one of the top teams in the conference this year," said four-yeard head coach Paul Ricciardi, who was the 2010 CUNYAC Men's Tennis Coach of the Year after a second-straight regular season championship with the men. "Our team is really working hard and we have improved a lot from one year to the next."
Ricciardi is alluding to his cluster of five returning players to the 2010 ranks, including No. 1 Singles ace Gabriella Villarruel. The two-sport star who also is a standout swimmer, boasted a 9-7 mark at the top spot last year, which included a 5-2 record in CUNY. Also returning for their senior seasons are Qing Li, who finished 9-6 a year ago (6-3 in her usual No. 4 Singles spot) and Nancy Almazo, who played everywhere from 3-6 last year and finished 8-8 in Singles play.
Fellow senior Yelena Rasporskaya will join the team in 2010 after only appearing in a couple of matches a year ago. Rasporskaya finished 9-7 (which included a 4-1 mark at No. 3 Singles) in 2008. She will be joined by sophomores Justine Kuna and Tara Colao, who combined for a respectable 9-12 mark in their freshman campaign a year ago. With a much-improved off-season, the two are expected to fill in nicely.
The Dolphins may be thin on incoming recruits, topping out with only a trio of new faces, but Ricciardi feels its enough to tip the scales in CSI's favor. Ilona Stoyko, is a dynamic freshman who can easily see time at the top of the lineup in both singles and doubles, complementing Villarruel, while academic junior Noory Croos, a local product from Curtis High School should be available coming in to the season and will provide depth near the bottom of the order. Rounding out the order is Natasha Caicedo, who enters the ranks from Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn.
The combination of an established roster and the two newcomers are critical to the Dolphins success this year.
With the CUNYAC Championship slated for mid-October, CSI will run through a 15-game schedule from the get-go, beginning this weekend against St. Joseph's. The team opens the CUNYAC portion of their season on September 14, when they host perennial CUNYAc power Baruch College. The schedule also features a 9/25 contest at Lehman College, in what will be a rematch of last year's CUNYAC Quarterfinal, when the Lightning sailed to a 5-0 win.