During her first season as coach of the Pennsylvania College of Technology coed tennis team, Aimee Plastow guided the squad to a conference championship. What will she do for an encore?
"We really have a solid lineup. I see no reason why we can't be one of the top, if not the top team in the conference," Plastow said. She added she expects her toughest competition in the Penn State University Athletic Conference to come from Penn State Brandywine and Penn State York. Penn College opens its season at 1 p.m. Saturday hosting Penn State Brandywine at the Memorial Park Courts.
To do so, the Wildcats will have to overcome the losses of Erica Logan of Montoursville, who was the top No. 1 women's singles player in the conference last season, and Austin Moran of Mount Joy, who was the top men's player at No. 2 singles in the PSUAC.
On the men's side, Plastow said, "I've got my No. 1 back (Shane Burridge, a sophomore from Ephrata), and, boy, is he playing some good tennis. Shane is in good shape. He is moving well. His forehand is just like a bullet anymore. He's playing very well."
Commenting on the rest of the male players, Plastow said, "We've got about four or five guys that are really, really close."
Among her top six, in addition to Burridge, are Rob Kemrer (sophomore/Milton), Dan Montville (freshman/Hughesville), Brad Fisher (sophomore/Montoursville), Alex Clemmens (freshman/Lebanon) and Arthur Myers (Houlton/Maine).
Other men on the squad are Alex Dugan (junior/McKeesport), Kyle Canavan (sophomore/Erie), Matthew Fahnestock (senior/Swedesboro, N.J.) and James "Kyle" Hanjaras (junior/Montrose).
"I'm really happy that we have such depth on the team. We've got six guys who can compete fairly well for those top four (singles) positions and in doubles," the coach said.
"I'm really impressed with the team that we have. I only have two women right now, so we're really short with women, but the two that we have are pretty solid players," Plastow said. They are sophomore returnees Danielle Trout (Harrisburg) and Rachel Emmons (Washington, N.J.).
Nine points are awarded during each match four in men's singles, two in men's doubles, two in women's singles and one in women's doubles.
"We're still figuring out our (men's) doubles teams, but we have such talent that we're going to play around with different teams to find the best ones. We're looking for a combination of good offensive and defensive players. We have them, so we should be able to form some pretty strong doubles teams," Plastow said.
"I'm looking forward to it being a really successful year "¦ We should do well," the coach added.
(Complete rosters and season schedules are available on the college's Athletics Web site). More informationabout the PSUAC is available online; for more informationabout the USCAA, visit on the Web.)