INDIANAPOLIS – University of Indianapolis and Drury University women's tennis teams have been selected to win the East and West Divisions, respectively, for the upcoming 2020 Great Lakes Valley Conference season, it was announced by the Conference office Thursday.
The GLVC Women's Tennis Preseason Poll was voted on by the league head coaches and ranks eight teams in the East and seven teams in the West as 15 of the 16 member schools sponsor the sport.
Defending Champion Indianapolis went 24-1 overall and 5-0 in league play last season, earning 112 points in the poll for the top spot in the East Division with all 14 possible first-place votes, as Conference policy prohibits coaches from casting a vote for their own team. The Greyhounds made their 10th trip to the NCAA Tournament last season that included a historic run to their first-ever National Semifinals after winning their league-best 11th GLVC Championship Tournament title and the Midwest sub-Regional trophy. Reigning GLVC Coach of the Year, Malik Tabet, enters his seventh season at the helm, having lost three-time GLVC Player of the Year Hanna Volikova but returns 2019 GLVC and Midwest Region Freshman of the Year Nikol Alexeeva along with two other All-GLVC honorees in sophomore Anna Novikova, as well as senior Maja Pindelska. UIndy will also enter the season as the No. 4 team in the ITA/Oracle Division II Preseason Poll.
Drury (15-5, 6-0 GLVC in 2019) is the West Division’s top pick, garnering six first-place votes for 90 points. The Panthers had reached the GLVC Championship Tournament title match in every season since joining the league in 2005, collecting eight trophies in that time, but were upset in the quarterfinal round of the event last season. However, fifteenth-year headman Jarrod Smith guided the 2019 squad to the West Division title and Drury’s 18th-straight NCAA Tournament berth. Despite losing a pair of All-GLVC picks in Josephine Jedruchowski and JiaQing Mo, another pair of honorees return in senior Yu-Ning Lee and junior Viktoriya Zheleva.
Lewis University was the next highest vote getter in the East, garnering 88 points and the other first-place vote, while Bellarmine University was close behind in third with 84 points after making a run to the GLVC Championship title match last season as the No. 4E seed. Behind the Knights were the University of Illinois Springfield and Maryville University – new to the East – that tied for fourth with 69 points. Sixth went to the University of Southern Indiana (46), followed by new member Lindenwood (41) in seventh, and McKendree (26) rounding out the field at No. 8.
In the West Division, league newcomer Southwest Baptist (89) was only one point shy of the top spot but did earn three more first-place votes than Drury with nine. The Bearcats are also ranked in the ITA poll in a tie for 20th after going 13-8 overall and 7-3 in the MIAA last year, advancing to the league’s title match and earning an at-large berth to the NCAA Central Regional. The University of Missouri-St. Louis garnered 74 points and the No. 3 spot in the preseason, while Rockhurst University picked up 61 points for fourth. Quincy University (42) was fifth with William Jewell College (34), and Truman State University (23) completing the seven-team division in sixth and seventh, respectively.
The 2020 GLVC Women’s Tennis Championship Tournament will be held at the Cooper Tennis Complex from April 24-26 in Springfield, Mo.
The complete 2020 GLVC Women's Tennis Preseason Coaches Poll follows below.
| 2020 GLVC WOMEN'S TENNIS PRESEASON POLL – EAST DIVISION |
| Place |
School |
Points (First-Place Votes) |
| 1 |
Indianapolis |
112 (14) |
| 2 |
Lewis |
88 (1) |
| 3 |
Bellarmine |
84 |
| 4 |
Illinois Springfield |
69 |
|
Maryville |
69 |
| 6 |
Southern Indiana |
46 |
| 7 |
Lindenwood |
41 |
| 8 |
McKendree |
26 |
| 2020 GLVC WOMEN'S TENNIS PRESEASON POLL – WEST DIVISION |
| Place |
School |
Points (First-Place Votes) |
| 1 |
Drury |
90 (6) |
| 2 |
Southwest Baptist |
89 (9) |
| 3 |
Missouri-St. Louis |
74 |
| 4 |
Rockhurst |
61 |
| 5 |
Quincy |
42 |
| 6 |
William Jewell |
34 |
| 7 |
Truman State |
23 |