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The Virginia Tech women's tennis team opens the spring portion of the 2008-09 schedule Wednesday hosting Elon (2 p.m) and Longwood (6 p.m.). The matches will be played indoors at the Burleson-Burrows Tennis Center on the Virginia Tech campus and admission is free. The following is a preview of this year's team:

A mix of the experience and youth best describes this year's roster. The Hokies will count heavily on three seniors to lead a group that includes two sophomores and four freshmen. Tech concluded last season with a 14-13 record and a No. 60 national ranking.

The Hokies, No. 60 in 2009 Intercollegiate Tennis Association national preseason rankings, participated in five fall tournaments in preparation for the spring dual match schedule. Six singles players and three doubles teams participated in the Wilson/ITA East Regional in Philadelphia, Pa. The Tech duo of Jessica Brouwer and Holly Johnson advanced to the doubles quarterfinals before being eliminated. In other fall results, Johnson and freshman Katie Blow won their respective singles draws at the Colorado Invitational, while Blow and freshman Courtney Rauscher won their brackets at the Sergio Tecchini Collegiate Invitational in Norfolk, Va. Tech concluded the fall on a very successful note as freshmen Martha Blakely and Shannon Betts, along with senior Abbey Walker, each won singles titles at the Hokie Fall Invitational as did the doubles pair of Walker and Yasmin Hamza.

“I am very pleased with the play of our team during our fall season,” said sixth-year women’s head coach Terry Ann Zawacki-Woods. “Our win-loss record of all of our individuals showed strong play throughout the season and I am excited about the depth of our team. We had many individuals win fall tournament titles and all four of our freshmen had wins in the double-digits in singles while Jessica Brouwer and Holly Johnson had double-digit wins in doubles. I always feel that the fall is a great time to build confidence and have a lot of match play. We definitely succeeded in accomplishing both of those objectives.”

Senior Inga Beermann (Bad Salzuflen, Germany), No. 125 in the ITA national preseason singles rankings and No. 14 in the East Region, has been a fixture at the top of the lineup throughout her career and will be counted on to do so once again while battling some of the top players in the nation. Beermann won 18 singles and 19 doubles matches last season and has a combined 133 singles and doubles career victories entering her final year. As a freshman, Beermann became the first Tech player to participate in the NCAA Tournament.

Jessica Brouwer (Sr., Maarssen, The Netherlands), No. 30 in the East Region preseason singles rankings, enters her senior season after posting a combined 17 wins in the fall. Brouwer has been a solid doubles performer throughout her Tech career collecting 54 victories. She received a No. 8 East Region preseason doubles ranking with teammate Holly Johnson.

Tech’s other returning senior is Abbey Walker (Lancaster, South Carolina) who posted an impressive 15-3 doubles record last season. Walker won both her singles and doubles flights at the Hokie Fall Invitational.

Yasmin Hamza (So., Cairo, Egypt) joined the team in the spring and made an immediate impact which earned her All-ACC accolades. Hamza, co-rookie of the year on the team, was ranked No. 23 in the East Region at the end of the season and was No. 110 nationally entering the fall campaign.

Holly Johnson (So., Tallahassee, Fla.) burst onto the Tech roster and led the team with 26 singles victories last season in addition to 20 doubles wins. Johnson, co-rookie of the year with Hamza, posted an impressive 7-4 ACC singles record.

Shannon Betts (Fr., Newnan, Ga.) is one of four newcomers on this year’s team. Betts was a five-star recruit by www.tennisrecruiting.com and won her singles flight at the Hokie Fall Invitational.

Martha Blakely (Fr., Reading, Pa.) is another five-star recruit and is a three-time Pennsylvania State Singles Champion. Blakely quickly adjusted to collegiate competition in the fall with a solid 11-4 singles record. She won her flight at the Hokie Fall Invitational.

Katie Blow (Fr., Richmond, Va.), a four-star recruit, is another freshman who had an outstanding fall season. Blow, who led her Mills Godwin team to the Virginia State title during her senior year, led the Hokies with a 13-2 fall singles record. Blow won her flight at the Colorado Fall Invitational.

Courtney Rauscher (Fr., Evans, Ga.) is a five-star recruit who also had a solid fall with an 11-2 singles mark and a perfect 6-0 doubles worksheet. Rauscher was named the top performer at the Princeton Invitational, and won both her singles and doubles flights at the Sergio Tecchini Invitational as well as winning her doubles flight at the Hokie Fall Invitational.

Tech will face another tough spring schedule featuring 14 teams that were ranked last season. In fact, nine of the Hokies’ 11 ACC opponents concluded last season in the national rankings, with two (No. 6 Georgia Tech and No. 9 Duke) finishing in the top ten.

The dual-match schedule opens on Jan. 28 with a doubleheader against Elon and Longwood. Tech will travel to Waco, Texas, for the first- and second rounds of the ITA National Indoor, Jan. 31-Feb. 1. The remainder of the February schedule includes home matches versus Davidson and Liberty, followed by road contests at Virginia Commonwealth and Boston College.

The March schedule features home contests against Maryland, Florida State and Miami, with road matches at Tulane, Virginia, Winthrop, Clemson and Georgia Tech. The regular season concludes in April with matches at North Carolina and Duke followed by home contests versus Marshall, NC State and Wake Forest. The ACC Championships will be held in Cary, N.C. (Apr. 16-19) prior to the NCAA Championships.

"Our spring schedule will present some great opportunities for our program," said Zawacki-Woods. "We are looking forward to our always challenging ACC schedule as well as playing in the first ITA Kickoff Indoor Weekend in Waco, Texas, and competing against many nationally-ranked, non-conference opponents."

For updates on Virginia Tech women's tennis, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_WTennis).