MANKATO, Minn. – For second-year head tennis coach Tony Boehler, the goals this season are to be more competitive and build a foundation for future years.

"We want to be more competitive than we were last year and to build a foundation for seasons moving forward," he said at the annual preseason press conference. "We're still very young on both teams, but I'm optimistic that the growth will happen."



The men earned its first win in program history over Wartburg and had some competitors advance at the Gustavus tournament this fall. Boehler sees those events already paying dividend for the traditional spring season. "That Gustavus tourney was important and we had a lot of nerves when we played Wartburg," he said. "College tennis was new to some of these players coming from outside the United States as well as those being guys' first collegiate competitions.

"By playing a lot of tennis and seeing a lot of competition that weekend and knowing that they belonged there and having some success was a good rapid growth experience for them," he continued. "We didn't have that tournament the year before for our returners due to COVID, so it was good to get out there and get those opportunities."

The women's team schedule is completely in the spring and Boehler has started to establish an effective lineup. "I'm learning a lot about trying to establish a lineup that we can count on," he said. "We are going to be relying on a student-athlete from a different team that's still in season, so we are hoping one or two players emerge from our newer group. At the same time, we will rely on senior Shoshana Bruner (Mankato, Minn.) and our returners to be leaders when we go into that first match as there will be some nerves and newness to the whole experience."

Bruner is tied for first as the career leader in No. 2 singles wins.

Bethany's schedule features some new opponents or schools that they have not faced in recent history. The rationale was so that the teams will have more competitiveness. "Those will be good matches where we can learn about ourselves and what we need to work on," Boehler said. "For us, the biggest area for improvement is in the doubles game. We are improving significantly but how are we going to take that next step."

The Vikings will open the spring campaign Saturday, Feb. 26 against Saint Mary's University at 6 p.m.