NEW ORLEANS – A busy week begins on Monday for both the New Orleans Privateers men's and women's tennis teams as they start their respective spring seasons. Both squads will host Dillard (Monday), Mississippi Gulf Coast (Wednesday) and Coastal Alabama (Friday).
The men will also play a fourth home match on Sunday, Feb. 11 against Copiah Lincoln CC.
Though the men's team are defending Southland champions, it is almost an entirely new squad. Only
Marius Gyllerup returns from that championship team in 2025.
There are three new freshmen to the team in
Peter Kieslinger, Carlos Melgosa and
Beltran Fernandez. The new Privateers had three fall tournaments including the Big Easy Classic, Battle on the Bayou and the West Florida Fall Fling.
Also new to the team is mid-year transfer, Evegnios Vasilakis. A native of Greece, Vasilakis previously played at Presbyterian where he won five doubles matches at flight one last season. He also reached the quarterfinals of the Big South Fall Championships last year.
The Privateers played both Mississippi Gulf Coast and Copiah Lincoln last year and they won both of those matches.
On the women's side, a group of six will take the court again this year with four returners and two newcomers. The most experienced player on the squad is senior,
Kateryna Kalistratova. A senior this season, Kalistratova is going on her fourth and final season with the Privateers.
The Ukraine native had 13 combined wins last season between singles and doubles and had six singles wins that went three sets.
Fleur Sprengers led the Privateers in wins last season with 11 as a true freshman. She also went 6-3 against Southland foes in the spring of 2025. Sprengers added on eight doubles wins in her debut collegiate season.
Two newcomers add to the roster in freshman,
Naila Krifa and transfer,
Danique Vermue. Vermue was part of a Mississippi Gulf Coast team that went 12-2 last season and made it to the NJCAA Region 23 Championship where they lost to Jones College.
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