NORFOLK, Va. - With the top three players in the lineup back from a season ago, the Norfolk State women's tennis team is ready to turn the page to 2021 after last year was cut short by COVID-19. Several newcomers are also ready to make an immediate impact with the Spartans as their season gets underway this week.
 
The team will look to move past the heartbreak of 2020, a year in which the Spartans played just five matches before the season was cancelled on March 12 due to the coronavirus outbreak. The team was in Hilton Head, South Carolina competing in the Spring Tennis Fest when it got word to head home. The MEAC announced that day it was cancelling the rest of the spring sports season.
 
Per an NCAA national decision, players could return without losing that year of eligibility, and the ones who did will continue to move forward next Tuesday when NSU heads over to Virginia Wesleyan to take on the Marlins to start the year.
 
Those players will have to adjust after Norfolk State hired Larry Holmes to serve as head coach in January, the third head coach for the Spartans in the past year. They are, however, used to making adjustments after the coronavirus altered their fall practice schedule in terms of both structure and the amount of practice time available.
 
The Spartans will play 11 non-conference matches, and MEAC play will commence in April before the conference tournament. The Spartans will look to build on the success achieved in their last full season in 2019, when they were awarded the MEAC Northern Division title.
 
For Holmes, however, one of the hardest parts has been getting to know his new players in just a short amount of time.
 
"It has been a challenge because for the first couple of weeks, I was not down here," said Holmes. "There has been a lot of phone conversations and Zoom calls. Once I arrived and was able to get on the court with the team, it was a lot of getting to know them, seeing how they operate, seeing them hit, and seeing them play."
 
Thankfully for the new head coach, he has three returnees who have played plenty.
 
No. 1 Paula Fortuno, No. 2 Zoe Fraser, and No. 3 Bruna Goncalves all return to the Spartan roster after holding down their respective positions in the lineup a year ago. All three helped NSU pick up a win over Savannah State last year in Hilton Head, and Fortuna and Goncalves elected to return as redshirt seniors. Along with Fraser, a true senior, the trio gives the Spartans plenty of experience to build around.
 
Fraser, a Radford transfer, went 5-0 in singles and 4-1 in doubles in MEAC play in 2019 in her first season with the Spartans. At 11-4 in singles, Fortuna has also found plenty of success at the conference level during her career. The same can be said for Goncalves, who owns a 10-3 career singles record in MEAC play. She and Fortuna helped the Spartans go 11-6 in the MEAC from 2017-19 during their first three years with the program.
 
"We have three amazing seniors in this program. Their experience has shown," said Holmes. "Those three seniors have taken on much more of a leadership role in trying to help us grow and teach the underclassmen that this is what it will take to win. Combining their experience with the incoming freshmen class, good things can happen."
 
Also back is redshirt sophomore Siliah Burke, who played at the No. 5 spot in her first season with the Spartans last year. Like the other three, Burke also earned a singles win over Savannah State last year in her limited action on the court prior to the shutdown.
 
The four returners will be in a fight to keep their positions after NSU brought in five new players for the season. Mexico natives Andrea Barcenas and Lydia Oviedo, Colombia native Laura Ruiz, local product Zada McMorris, and North Carolina native Niya Grant give NSU plenty of options as the lineup shakes out.
 
Barcenas and Oviedo won numerous singles and doubles tournaments throughout Mexico, both at the state and regional levels. Barcenas also competed in international tournaments held within her home country, while Oviedo ranked as high as No. 15 for her age group in Mexico. Both could play a big part in NSU's success this year.
 
Unlike the other four newcomers, Ruiz did not have the benefit of fall practice after arriving at NSU for the spring semester. She was one of the top ranked players in her age group in Colombia and even stood as high as No. 5 in her age group in the South American Tennis Federation (COSAT) rankings. Like Barcenas and Oviedo, Ruiz' international experience can give her a boost going into her freshman year.
 
McMorris, meanwhile, was a Virginia Class 5A Region champion in singles and doubles during her career at Maury High School in Norfolk. She twice advanced to the state semifinals in doubles while never losing more than one match per season in either singles or doubles during her career.
 
Grant was a two-time all-conference performer during her career at Ronald Reagan High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She led her squad to the state playoffs twice and also advanced to the state tournament in doubles as a senior.
 
Getting the new players to understand what it takes to succeed has been another challenge for Holmes.
 
"Our incoming class, from day one I have told them, this is not like the junior circuit any more. This is college," said Holmes. "A lot of them, they are not used to the whole team aspect. When you play in a juniors tournament, you solely focus on you. But as I explained to them, each match is worth a point. Just because you lose your individual match or win your individual match, at the end of the day, we have to get four points. That is the biggest transition, in trying to get them to understand that it is much more of a team rather than me."
 
Altogether, NSU will play at least 15 matches this spring, with the possibility of additions to the schedule. Included in there are road matches against William & Mary, Richmond, Towson and Longwood, a home-and-home with Old Dominion, another home match against UNC Greensboro, and four MEAC matches at the end of the regular season at Howard, Coppin State, Morgan State and Delaware State.
 
This year's MEAC Tournament will take place from April 24-25 at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center. The top two teams from each division will advance to this year's tournament.