WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. - The West Liberty University women's tennis team is set to begin its spring schedule Wednesday afternoon traveling to West Virginia Wesleyan.

"It is exciting to start the season with a veteran team," said 20th-year head coach Heather Gallagher. "They have worked hard during the off-season which has been great, but the competition makes all that training worthwhile. We are looking forward to getting started!"

The veteran squad coach mentioned features four returning All-MEC selections including the reigning ITA Atlantic Region Freshman of the Year in the conference, Emma Arnal. Gemma Cliffe and Evelina Martirosyan joined Arnal on first team All-MEC in 2022, while Nathalia Valencia was selected to the second team.

The spring season is starting two days earlier than expected, as the Bobcats and Hilltoppers agreed to move the opener up from Friday to this Wednesday due to weather. 

In the fall, West Liberty went 2-0 in matches sweeping Dominican and Seton Hill, 7-0, then competed in four tournaments including the Atlantic Region ITA Championships. Arnal enters the spring ranked #50 in DII, her first national ranking of her career. She made a semifinal appearance at ITA's this fall and was tabbed fourth in the regional rankings.

Arnal joined Cliffe highlighting the Hilltoppers' doubles squads and made a run to the ITA quarterfinals, while Martirosyan went 6-1 overall in the fall and appeared in the ITA singles quarterfinals. Both Arnal / Cliffe (doubles) and Martirosyan (singles) are ranked eighth in the Atlantic Region in their respective brackets.

The spring features 12 matches on the schedule for West Liberty. The home opener will be on February 24 inside the Wheeling Bubble versus Davis & Elkins. On more indoor home match will be on March 25 versus Carnegie Mellon, then the Hilltoppers will wrap up their home slate with three straight matches from April 1-8 at Washington Park. The Mountain East Conference Tournament is set for April 21-22 in Charleston, then NCAA Regionals follow on May 1-2.

WLU secured its 10th postseason bid last season in Gallagher's tenure at the helm. The Hilltoppers have also won three Mountain East Championships under Gallagher establishing the Black and Gold as perennial contenders in the conference as well as the region.

Follow the Hilltoppers all season online at HilltopperSports.com, as well as on Twitter (@WLU_WTennis, @WLathletics), Instagram (@wlu_wtennis, @wlu_athletics), and Facebook.