“The women’s soccer team will look to make a big impact in the Mid-American Conference this season under new head coach Chris Pfau. The Zips finished 1-6-4 overall in the MAC last season and Pfau is looking to immediately turn that around. We have one goal and that is to win, Pfau said.”
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The women’s soccer team will look to make a big impact in the Mid-American Conference this season under new head coach Chris Pfau.

The Zips finished 1-6-4 overall in the MAC last season and Pfau is looking to immediately turn that around.

We have one goal and that is to win, Pfau said. We have no excuses, and I think as soon as I can implement that with the players, the turn around will happen pretty quickly.

We’re going to make the conference tournament, that’s it, Pfau said. From there, anything can happen.

Pfau was in a similar situation in Evansville, his previous head coaching position before coming to Akron.

Both teams struggled with winning, Pfau said. The morale has been down. The difference here is a lot of the players are returning. They’re caught up in the losing part of it and not believing in themselves. Once they believe they can win, the winning will turn around.

Pfau will depend on the seniors to lead the team.

I think they’re tired of losing and they see the light at the end of the tunnel, Pfau said.         

VOLLEYBALL: After going 10-20 overall and 2-14 in the MAC last season, Ron Arenz was brought in to try and turn the program around.

Last season Arenz led Western Alabama to a 27-6 record, just their fourth winning season in 29 years.

Arenz will look to do the same for the Zips this season.

We spent the spring working on team chemistry ,and I’m a believer that the team with the best chemistry will beat out any team with one or two stars.

The ace up Arenz’s sleeve appears to be his five recruits.

I think they will make an immediate impact, Arenz said. With their personalities and enthusiasm for the sport will permeate to the other players. They’ll put pressure on the returning players and a healthy competition will come of that.

The team has set one goal for themselves.

They want to have a reputation among opponents that they are ready to go into battle with you, Arenz said. Their reputation in the past wasn’t that strong and they want to change that.

TENNIS: The tennis team is gearing up for what head coach Jeff Wyshner said is one of the team’s most promising seasons in 15 years.

Our recruiting class is one of 36 teams that received votes in the top 25 in the country, Wyshner said. We are the 12th best recruiting class of the mid-major schools.

The team will rely on two newcomers and six returning players to uphold their preseason accolades.

Senior Tanyaradzwa Gombera has been the team’s number one player the past three years. She was voted 2nd team All-MAC last season and was the first Akron tennis player to receive the honor since 2004.

The captains of the team, Carrie Langworthy and Alyssa Carlson, will be part of a group competing for the four, five or six singles spot.

Wyshner expects the two freshman on the team to be in the top 3 singles spots.

The best thing about the fall tournament schedule is we see teams from across the country and play bigger schools across the Midwest, Wyshner said. The most important tournament of the fall will be the ITA Midwest Regional. It had the top players from every school in the Midwest. It is critical for our incoming freshman, being number one players, in terms of earning a regional and possibly national ranking.

The Zips first tournament will be the Bowling Green Invitational starting Saturday, Sept. 21.

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