Elon women’s tennis junior Simone Bergeron is hungry for more.
“We got a taste of what it’s really like,” Bergeron said. “That was such an amazing feeling. Like, let’s do it again. And for all the new girls on the team I know they want a taste of what that feels like.”
The team won their first ever Coastal Athletic Association Championship in program history last season, and Bergeron’s singles win against William & Mary secured the championship for the Phoenix.
She’s now looking to build on an impressive sophomore campaign where she was named CAA Player of the Year. Bergeron was prolific in both singles and doubles, making the All-CAA first team for both positions. Bergeron’s pairing with Mariana Reding resulted in 18 doubles wins, alongside a dominant season-long performance at the No. 1 singles spot.
Elon is entering the season with a target on their back as the defending champions coming off a 19-6 season, but Bergeron said the team is making sure they are focused on the process of getting back there and not getting ahead of themselves.
“Obviously, everyone gets excited for the tournament at the end of the season, but we’re all really just focused on doing the best we can every match, getting those out of conference wins as well,” Bergeron said. “Later in the season, when we get there, we know we’ll be ready for that.”
Head coach Elizabeth Anderson said the team spent the offseason focusing on their strength and conditioning. A new assistant coach also joined the Phoenix, Allie Gretkowski.
Gretkowski, who played at South Carolina and Louisville, helped the team with their conditioning, according to Reding.
Reding said she put a lot of work into her serve in the offseason. She said she worked on improving speed on her serve and coming to the net more often. Bergeron said she has worked on implementing more variety in her game, such as improving her drop shot and confidence at the net in singles.
Coming off the success of last season, Bergeron said gaining a national ranking and making it farther in the NCAA Tournament is a big goal of the team. One way to accomplish this is playing against tougher opponents. Elon added some difficult non-conference opponents to the schedule this year, including the No. 3 ranked University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Furman University; and the University of Connecticut.
Anderson said it’s good to have a varied schedule and to be able to present the players with those challenges.
“That’s where you can see that this year, trying to play a few more varied teams to help us to be able to increase our level,” Anderson said. “When we play against UNC it’s just continuously playing it, at that high level, point after point, game after game. And I think that’s kind of where the difference is. But the more that we do that, and the more we play those matches, the better we’re getting.”
When playing these tough opponents, Bergeron said they “take the name off the shirt and just play the ball.”
The team this year is veteran-heavy, with mostly upperclassmen making up the roster and only one freshman. Bergeron said all five returning players know what it takes to win a championship and all the hard work that goes into it.
Despite some turnover from last year, Reding said the team’s close-knit sense of community is what separates them from other schools.
“I sometimes watch teams around us, and they finish a match and they are five meters away from each other, like they just don’t like each other,” Reding said. “We usually finish a match and we’re just talking about it with each other, and then we’re cheering on the people that still play. I think that’s a great advantage for us. We get along so well. We can hang out on the court, outside the court. We’re really good friends.”
Anderson said she believes the team has got some good momentum carrying into the season. In the first few matches the team has illustrated that, going 7-3 on the season.
Bergeron said for the team to repeat the success of last season, they will need to repeat the hard work that it took to get there and move on from last season.
“Rather than staying in that moment for a little too long, it’s a whole new season, new slate, everyone in the CAA has got a new team, we’re gonna find out where we stand, but if we take care of our side of things, the results will come,” Bergeron said.