Women's Tennis

Women´s Tennis Enjoys Promising Start

Anita Qureshi (above) and the Lady Rattlers split their opening weekend of play.

SAN ANTONIO — The St. Mary’s women’s tennis team got off to a promising start during its first weekend of action, splitting a pair of matches against Our Lady of the Lake and Stephen F. Austin.

Helping St. Mary’s rout OLLU 6–1 last Friday, Kelly Cooper (Jr., San Antonio) and Erica Carmona (Jr., Converse, Texas) teamed up to beat Audrey Alba and Jessica Perez 8–6 in doubles action.

The Rattlers’ other tandem, Anita Qureshi (So., San Antonio) and Huong Huynh (Jr., Houston), also were victorious, beating Michella Reyes and Leslie Cooper 8–2.

In singles action, Huynh, Cooper, Carmona and Ashley Hernandez (Jr., Cibolo, Texas) all prevailed, with Huynh knocking off Alba 6–1, 6–1. Cooper won 6–1, 6–3; Carmona won 6–3, 6–5; and Hernandez won 6–1, 6–0. Qureshi was clipped by Leslie Cooper 6–4, 6–5.

The Lady Rattlers’ weren’t as fortunate Saturday, being swept by SFA 9–0.

Cooper/Carmona were defeated by Shazhko/Benesietska 8–2, while the Rattlers’ other doubles teams were also tripped up. Qureshi/Huong fell to Montenga/Pagent 8–2, while Cimen Soy (Sr., Gothenburg, Sweden)/Rachel Gutierrez (So., San Antonio) lost 8–1.

In singles play, Soy lost to Shazhko 6–0, 6–2; Huong lost to Enka 6–3, 6–1; Cooper lost to Montenga 6–0, 6–1; Carmona lost to Benesietska 6–2, 6–1; and Qureshi lost to Pagent 6–0, 6–0.

St. Mary’s University, as a Catholic Marianist University, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community service, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence. The University has six athletic national titles: men’s basketball (1989–NAIA), baseball (2001–NCAA Div. II), softball (1986–NAIA and 2002–NCAA Div. II) and an individual national champion in men’s golf (2006–NCAA Div. II) and a national academic championship in men’s golf (2009–NCAA Div. II). St. Mary’s also had 65 percent of its athletes named to conference, regional and/or national honor rolls this past year. St. Mary’s student–athletes graduation rate is 63 percent, higher than the NCAA Division II average of 55 percent. To learn more about St. Mary's, visit www.stmarytx.edu/athletics.

    

Coaching Staff

Head Coach Lisa Dausin

Lisa Dausin took over the St. Mary's tennis program last season after spending the past 31 years moving up the ranks in the Northside Independent School District. And she wasted little time making her impact felt on the Rattlers.

As the head coach for both the St. Mary's men's and women's tennis teams, Dausin found success through each. She made quick work of the talent on the women's squad in her first season, improving their record from 5-16 in the 2010 season to 10-16 last season. Dausin had the Rattlers face both nationally and regionally ranked teams to strengthen her players and to prep them for Heartland Conference play, a technique that advanced the Rattlers all the way to the conference semifinals.

The women's team held a bulk of the conference's Player of the Week awards, winning four out of the six awards given out during conference play. Dausin saw two Rattlers earn All-Conference honors, including returning player Valentine Lambrechts, who also won two Player of the Week awards, and senior Angelique DeOliveira.

Entering her second season as the women's head coach after doubling their wins last season, Dausin lost four seniors but revamped the roster with a five-deep signing class that includes a Division I transfer. With her expertise, a successful second season looks within reach.

Before taking over as head coach for St. Mary's, Dausin served for 12 years as the Assistant Athletics Director for Northside ISD before returning to teaching this past school year, when she taught at Warren High School in San Antonio and coached middle-school tennis.

The first female hired in the school district's athletics office, Dausin served as an extension of the athletics director, overseeing the hiring of coaches and doing legal work pertaining to athletics personnel, among other duties.

At St. Mary's, she will look to build upon the foundation laid last season, when the men went 5-14 and the women 5-16.

Before moving into the athletics office at Northside ISD, she worked at Marshall High School, coaching tennis and assisting other sports from 1980-1994. In 1995, she became the school's Girls Coordinator.

A St. Mary's graduate, Dausin has always had tennis in her blood. She played tennis, basketball and softball at St. Mary's. She graduated in 1979 with an education degree with a teacher's certification, and went on to get her master's degree in education at Southwest Texas State in 1983. She later completed her coursework for another master's degree in counseling at Texas-San Antonio in 1998.

Born in Del Rio, she spent much of her childhood in San Antonio, graduating from McCollum High School. Dausin is married to Bryan, a football coach at Warren High School. They have two sons, Ross and Rex.

Assistant Coach Stephan Poole

Stephan Poole stepped in as St. Mary's assistant tennis coach last season, becoming head coach Lisa Dausin's right-hand man.

Poole joined the St. Mary's coaching staff with experience, playing tennis throughout and after high school. An alum of John Marshall High School in San Antonio, Poole made his way around the court, placing fourth in regionals for singles his junior year as well as qualifying for individual regionals for singles that same year. As a senior, Poole placed fourth in doubles.

With the love of tennis not of out his system by the time he graduated, Poole continued to swing his racket competitively. He played for the San Antonio 5.5 Men's League and the 4.5 Men's League, making sectionals twice.

Poole found his way to St. Mary's by way of his talent during high school, where he was coached by St. Mary's own head tennis coach, Lisa Dausin.

"She's given me the opportunity to further my career in tennis," says Poole, who will be completing his degree in exercise and sport science and soon become a St. Mary's alum like his former coach.

Having already developed an effective line of communication - plus a successful, established tennis relationship - Poole and Dausin advanced the St. Mary's tennis squads last season with improved records for both the men's and women's teams.

"I think this is the most experienced tennis coaching staff St. Mary's has had," says Poole, referring to both his and Dausin's personal experience in competitive tennis.

With tennis experience under his belt and the program taking a step in the right direction as soon as he signed on, Poole is a valuable asset to the coaching staff, bringing excitement and "making (players) remember why they started this sport."

Poole is married to Tara and they have one daughter, Madison.

2011-2012 St. Mary's Women's Tennis Roster