What's new for the AU Men's Tennis team this year? In a word: everything.
Gone is head coach Martin Blackman, who left the program to run a tennis academy and spend more time with his family after coaching the Eagles to their first three Patriot League titles.
Gone are five seniors who, for the past two seasons, comprised the bulk of the teams that won the PL championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament.
And gone - at least according to PL preseason polls - are the expectations for the Eagles to win their fourth straight league title.
But the Eagles, behind youthful new coach Kyle Bailey, who assisted Blackman last season after graduating from AU in 2003, are looking at 2005 as a year to build, not to rebuild.
"One thing I want to try to do is to put us on a more nationally competitive level," Bailey says. "Just winning the conference isn't necessarily our goal. It should be something that's expected."
Adds Juan Jaysingh, the team's only senior: "Our goal is still to win the Patriot League, and maybe go one step further ... to actually do something in the NCAA tournament this time. That we got picked second for the first time in four years ... that motivates us to work harder and be more focused. It also takes the pressure off us."
That excludes the pressure AU is placing on itself. The Eagles aren't looking for excuses. Instead, they are trying to make up for their inexperience with extra work on and off the court, say both Bailey and Jaysingh.
"I'm still trying to absorb everything I can," says Bailey, whom Jaysingh says is always working overtime, whether in the office or on the courts. "I feel like that helps me learn a lot quicker. Unfortunately, whether I go home or stay here, I think about it all the time."
Jaysingh, who plays behind juniors Juancarlo Vazquez and Nicolas Fraysinnoux as the No. 3 seed, feels an extra responsibility as the team elder to set a similar example.
"I can't mess up," Jaysingh says. "I feel like I have to be perfect sometimes. Last year we had six guys who could share the load. ... If I mess up I feel the worst of anybody that day. I don't want to let anyone down."
Jaysingh admits that sometimes he pressures himself too much, while Bailey urges him to have more fun with the game and relax. If the inexperienced Bailey has any advantage, it is knowing the needs of Jaysingh, Vazquez, and players in a program he played in just three seasons ago. Guillame Tarralle, Bailey's assistant who finished his AU tennis career last season, also has that edge.
"We know what a good team in terms of this program looks like," Bailey said. "And we can adjust our coaching to that. Against GW, a team we usually beat, we said, 'guys, for this team we didn't prepare right. That's not the way this team works."
To start the spring, AU is riding a difficult out-of-conference road, which includes trips to College Tennis Online's No. 30 North Carolina, No. 58 Old Dominion, and No. 63 William and Mary. The Eagles are 2-1 in the young season, with wins over East Tennessee State and George Washington, and a loss to Winthrop, all in January.
League play won't begin until March 24, when the Eagles travel to Lafayette. AU then jumps into conference play, and hopes to make their fourth-straight PL championship appearance just a month after their first league match.
No one says it will be easy. Army lost its top two seeds to graduation, but is still picked to finally wrestle the title away from the Eagles this year. Navy and Colgate are also expected to make strong challenges for the crown of a conference that, despite AU's recent dominance, almost always seems unpredictable.
For AU to succeed, a lot of growing must happen between now and then. Only Jaysingh and Vazquez have significant collegiate experience, as even Fraysinnoux, who transferred to AU this year, is new to the NCAA format.
Growing, and growing together, won't be easy, says Bailey. But he thinks he can aid the process.
"We've got 11 guys who literally are extremely different, in they're style, heritage, and even ethnicity," Bailey says. "It's extremely important to pay attention to those things in tennis. We want to focus on what each player needs to do to make himself better"
