Introduction
This is only the second season for head coach Curt Wheeler at the helm of the Point Loma men's tennis team, but he may be leading one of the deepest and most talented Sea Lion squads in recent memory. PLNU returns all seven starters to a team that placed fifth at the PacWest Championships and reached the top 25 in the ITA rankings.
 
Offseason training
The Point Loma men's tennis team has been on the court the past three weeks, intensely preparing for the season, but they also spent numerous hours on the court and the weight room in the Fall working on their games, conditioning and team dynamics.
 
"Practices have been going well," said coach Wheeler. "We have a few guys dealing with some small nagging injuries that we're working through. If they get healthy, I'm really excited for this year. I think we're poised for a really good year."
 
Returners
Last season Point Loma did not feature a senior on the roster, and all but two came back this season. The Sea Lions return all seven starters in singles and doubles. This includes ITA All-American Andre Staab, All-PacWest selection Martin Blaho and PacWest Freshman of the Year CJ Erion. Also returning for PLNU are seniors Daniel Milliken and James Tenbroeck, along with sophomores Jack Alston and Grant Alston.
 
"We ended last year really well," Wheeler explained. "We went over and beat UCSD in a really tight match for our last match of the season. They were ranked a good number of spots above us. We started the year ranked in the high 40's nationally, got up to No. 25 and we ended the year at No. 26, and I think we have the capability of reaching the top 20 this year."
 
Newcomers
With so many letterwinners returning, coach Wheeler was able to be selective with his offseason recruiting. He brought in just one student-athlete this season, freshman Adrian von Braun, in addition to Blake Smith coming off his redshirt season.
 
"We added Adrian von Braun, from Sweden at the start of this semester," Wheeler said. "He has a chance to make a good impact in both singles and doubles. We didn't have any of our starting players graduate after last season, so even if we didn't add Adrian we would be stronger than we were last year."
 
Schedule
With the depth of talent and the expectations for the season, coach Wheeler has assembled a deep and challenging schedule for the Sea Lions. They will open their season on Saturday, jan. 30 against local San Diego Christian.
 
"The schedule is strong this year," he added. "We have a lot of really good matches scheduled. We are going to play an NCAA Division I team, some really top ranked NCAA DIII teams, in addition to many NCAA Division II matches. I think if we stay healthy and we play the way that we're capable of, we can have a really good year."
 
PacWest Tournament
The Sea Lions' season will be building towards the PacWest Championships in Surprise, Ariz., on Apr. 13-16. Not only does this tournament cap off the regular season for PLNU, but it gives them direct access to earning a spot in the NCAA West Regional. Three teams from the West will make it to the regional. The winner of the PacWest tournament will receive an automatic bid to nationals, while the other two teams will have a playoff for the final spot.
 
"I really like how it's set up because it gives almost every team a chance to make a run at the end of the year," Wheeler said. "(With the addition of the third regional team) there is even a greater chance this year of us making it to postseason which I'm really excited about. I believe we have a stronger team than we did last year, so I think we're really shooting for regionals, and hopefully nationals after that."
 
Goals
In addition to making a postseason run, coach Wheeler has also outlined some other goals for the Sea Lions this season.
 
"We focus a lot on process goals," he explained. "Doubles is a big goal for us this year. Just improving our results in doubles, could have helped us have a few more matches go in our favor. With another year under our belt and really knowing exactly what we want to do on the doubles court I think we will show this year in how we perform with doubles. That's one of our big goals.
 
"Another goal for us is to play, 'without unhealthy fear,'" Wheeler added. "Another way of thinking about that is playing loose, playing free and just playing relaxed. When we do that, we play our best tennis. That is a big mental goal for us this year. We have to really go out and play with that mindset that we can go out and beat anybody, no matter who we're playing, what time of the day, where it is, home or away, and just have that confidence that whatever happens, I'm gonna lay it all out there and good things will come from that."
 
Keys to the season
While coach Wheeler has outlined these goals for his team he knows there are important things that need to happen to allow the team to achieve these goals.
 
"The No. 1 key is preparation," said Wheeler. "These last two weeks and this last fall we did a good job of practicing the things we need to do well to be successful in doubles. We are also practicing the mindset that we need to have. We need to be loose, to be relaxed and to play without fear, so that when we get into those positions where we need to be successful, where we need to execute, where we need to do those things, our guys are going to be ready to succeed. Put all these things together and the more experience you have doing it, the greater chance you have of being successful."
 
Conclusion
The past few seasons the Sea Lions have always had talent, but not quite enough to break through to be considered one of the top level teams in the West, but with the skills and depth of this team coach Wheeler as assembled, Point Loma looks in position to take the leap forward and establish itself as one of the upper tier programs in the region.