By Rick Mauch
Well, that didn't take long.
In its first season back after many years, the Weatherford College women's tennis program is one of the best in the nation. Now, the No. 7 ranked two-year college team in the nation is competing in the NJCAA Championships Saturday through Wednesday in Tucson, Arizona.
"I am proud of how this group has competed and can't wait to see how our practices the past few weeks will translate at nationals," said head coach Alexandra Leatu. "Our inaugural season has been a success and I am looking forward to continued growth with our next group of players as well."
The Coyotes' schedule has included facing four of the nation's top 10 programs, including No. 1 Tyler Junior College, No. 4 Seward County (Kansas) Community College, No. 5 Cowley (Kansas) College and a 7-2 drubbing of No. 8 Collin College in Plano.
Their team competition also included 9-0 shutout wins over four-year schools such as Mary Hardin Baylor, East Texas Baptist and Howard Payne, along with a 7-0 shellacking of Texas A&M-Texarkana.
The fall began with a strong showing at the Oklahoma City Collegiate Invitational, which included wins over NCAA Division II programs Ouachita Baptist and Southeastern Oklahoma State. Agathe Vaillant and Marija Ristanovic captured the No. 3 doubles flight championship, while Anastasiia Khrustaleva was second in No. 1 singles and Vaillant took second in No. 3 singles.
At the Small College Regionals at Tyler Junior College, Michelle Markovic reached the singles semifinals before falling to the No. 1 seed. Then, at the Collin College Open, facing some of the strongest competition in the nation, Khrustaleva reached the finals of No. 1 singles before being ousted by the nation's third-ranked junior college player and Markovic won No. 2 singles. They teamed up to reach the finals of No. 1 doubles.
Wrapping up the fall, facing NCAA Division I competition, Vaillant led a strong WC performance by going 2-0 in her singles matches.
Now, along with the team being ranked No. 7 nationally by the International Tennis Association, Khrustaleva is No. 7 in the nation in singles, while Markovic is No. 25 and Mia Milojevic is No. 28. Khrustaleva and Markovic are No. 6 nationally in doubles, with Elena Baughman Sanders and Ristanovic at No 23.
Markovic and Vaillant are the only sophomores on the team. Rounding out the roster are freshmen Lina Brandt and Maddie Farmer.
"Variety is always good for development, and I believe our challenging schedule helped the team have better focus and work harder in practice with more specific intention," Leatu said. "The team has put in a tremendous amount of work in preparation for the tournament. They are prepared and will compete hard, representing Weatherford College to the best of their ability."