By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

SALEM, Ore. -- The Willamette University women's tennis team is set to open the spring season this weekend with a pair of non-conference home matches against Northwest Conference teams. The Bearcats will take on Pacific Lutheran University on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 1 p.m. (PST) and will host University of Puget Sound on Sunday, Feb. 4 at 2 p.m. Due to weather conditions, both matches will be played at the Salem Tennis and Swim Club, located at 4318 Lone Oak Road SE in Salem.

Top returning players for the Bearcats include Mikaila Smith (Sr., Mill Valley, CA/Tamalpais HS), Hannah Andres (Jr., Sammamish, WA/Skyline HS), Alexis Gjurasic (Jr., Olympia, WACapital HS), and Mina Mizutani (So., Los Alamitos, CALos Alamitos HS). In singles last season, Smith played mostly at the #1 position, with Andres at #2, Gjurasic at #3 and Mizutani at #4. Smith and Gjurasic formed Willamette's top doubles team last year.

Head Coach Bryce Pamelly is in his first season with the Bearcats. He follows Becky Roberts, who retired from Willamette this past spring after 17 seasons as the head women's tennis coach.

Parmelly has coached at the NCAA Division III level since 2005. He spent the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons as the assistant men's tennis coach at Middlebury College (Vt.). He was the head men's tennis coach at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2011-12 and 2012-13. He previously served as the assistant men's tennis coach at UC Santa Cruz from 2005-06 through 2009-10. He was chosen as the NCAA Division III National Assistant Coach of the Year by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) for his efforts during the 2016-17 season at Middlebury. He was the West Region Assistant Coach of the Year while at UC Santa Cruz in 2008-09.

Although the matches this weekend will not count in the NWC standings, the Bearcats will compete against Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound in NWC action later in the season. After playing schedules of 1 1/2 round-robins in NWC play the past few seasons, NWC teams will play only one round-robin of conference games this year. Willamette will play a total of eight matches that will count in the NWC standings, starting with a home match against Whitman College on Sunday, Feb. 18. The Bearcats are scheduled to play a total of 18 matches this spring.