As springtime and warmer weather defrost the frosty fields of south Louisiana, the Lady Colonels new tennis coach Scott Robinson looks to bring coaching stability to the tennis program.
Robinson said that creating stability is important for a tennis program with three different coaches in three seasons.
“Stability is very important for the girls especially because they do not know whether someone is going to stay here for a while or not,” Robinson said.
“That not only hurts their experience, but it hurts recruiting as well.”
Having been on the job for almost two weeks, Robinson said he appreciates the great atmosphere here at Nicholls.
“Nicholls is a very close-knit university. It has very supportive athletic and academic departments, and it is a fun place to be,” Robinson said.
Robinson most recently served as the tennis pro at Franco’s Athletic Club, following four years as tennis director at Crossgate’s Athletic Club.
While at Crossgate’s, Robinson also filled assistant coach duties at Tulane and was the head coach at Country Day School. He led Country Day to three state championships.
A Connecticut state high school champion, Robinson headed south for his collegiate career by attending Wake Forest University in North Carolina. He was a four-year varsity letter winner.
Robinson said he looks forward to leading the Lady Colonels tennis team to the same success.
“I am looking forward to help return the tennis program to where it was in the early 1990s,” Robinson said.
With the season already here, Robinson said he wants to focus on strengthening the team physically for the season and building team togetherness.
“We want to focus on conditioning by getting the girls back in shape, and to get the girls to enjoy being out there so they can focus primarily on conditioning,” Robinson said.
Sophomore Jennifer Rodriguez, who is the team’s lone returnee and number one player, will join Robinson in the leadership role.
Freshmen Dorian Robichaux and Monique Savoy are the other players on scholarship.
Robinson said walk on senior Ashley Vicknair, sophomore Jenny Hidalgo and freshmen Jessica Archer give the team strength in numbers.
“The walk ons will help us fill some spots for this season. They will help us not have to forfeit certain positions this year,” he said.
“And I am very appreciative for having them out there because it enables us to have a normal practice.”
With only one returning player, Robinson said it would be difficult for his team to compete this season.
“We are not going to be competitive this season. We don’t have enough players that are really able to compete on the level we need them to compete on,” Robinson said.
Despite suffering from experience, Robinson said the team would be able restock the roster next season to become more competitive in the Southland Conference.
“We will have a number of scholarships available that will help a lot with recruiting,” Robinson said.
Overall, Robinson’s main goal this semester is to train the team for the upcoming semester and for next season.
“I want to see the girls enjoy playing tennis, and hopefully they will improve to be able to compete and make this team next year,” Robinson said.
“The spring semester will serve as a building block for next year’s squad, which already has been greatly enhanced with commitments from two excellent junior college transfers.”
The Lady Colonels will travel to Columbus, Miss. to take on Mississippi University for Women and Lambuth College Feb. 22. A day later, they will travel to Hattiesburg, Miss. to take on Southern Mississippi.