No seniors. No captains. No problem.
The 2005 Penn State women's tennis team returns no seniors from last year's team and follows the unconventional philosophy of not naming any team captains.
Head coach Buffy Baker has never assigned team captains, as a way to motivate everyone on the team to show some form of leadership.
"My thinking has always been that as soon as you assign team captains then the others think they can step back," Baker said. "Part of what I like to do is tell them I expect leadership out of everybody."
The team members, who see no difficulty with not having senior leadership, share this ideology.
"We have a really young team but our three freshmen coming in will be a great asset," junior Kristine Harclerode said. "We've never had captains, we've all been equal. We all speak up and voice our opinions. I don't think we'll have a problem with it, but it's definitely different for us being juniors and being the oldest."
After a disappointing 3-8 record in Big Ten play last spring, the Lions will need improved leadership to build on last season.
One of the key personnel losses for the team was the graduation of Maria Husain, who had been named to the All-Big Ten team last season.
Husain had been the No. 1 singles player on the roster and filled a key leadership role for a Penn State squad that finished with an 8-13 overall record last season.
"This is the second year in a row where we've lost our No. 1 and 2, so that's huge," Baker said. "In a tennis program, you have your strengths and you lose one of those.
It's not like a team sport where you can just insert someone who plays that position. It's a tremendous loss. No doubt trying to replace Husain will be tough."
Coach Baker emphasizes that any member of the team has the ability to fill the void left by last year's seniors.
"It's just a matter of who wants to be in that position and who's going to win it out from the other teammates," said Baker.
The fall season will give the team members a chance to compete for the top positions and get used to the new additions to the team.
"We've got new freshmen, and I think it will be good to see new balance in the team, see them on the court, and they'll get used to us," said junior Sasha Abraham.
"By the end, I think all of us will know where we're at and where everyone else is at."
The team starts competing on Sept. 23 at the University of Pennsylvania's Cissy Leary Invitational.
A focus of this year's team would be to improve on their performances in close matches, which they struggled in last season.
"We've lost too many 4-3 matches over the past three yeas," said Baker. "Last year, we lost six 4-3 matches and won three. The difference of those is tremendous in the outcome of our season and an NCAA berth. We've been close but close is not what we're aiming at."
