Women’s tennis is coming off an 11-9 record last season, but lost six of its last eight games.

The Huskies have a chance to improve this season as most of their players have returned. Sports writer Danielle Brown breaks down key players for the Huskies heading into 2016.

Tanya Gombera

The Huskies are led by second-year head coach Tanya Gombera, who holds a coaching record of 12-10 at NIU. Gombera was a tennis player at the University of Akron, a familiar MAC opponent, from 2005-2009.

Gombera was awarded a silver medal at the 2003 All-Africa Games in Nigeria. She was also ranked No. 453 in world tennis rankings. Gombera decided to further her tennis career by becoming a graduate assistant coach for Southern Mississippi University after her retiring as a player. She became a head coach at Malone for one season following a graduate assistant and short interim coach stint at SMU. Gombera served time as an assistant coach at North Dakota then shortly found a home here at NIU.

Cristina Alvarez

Senior Cristina Alvarez hails from Zaragoza, Spain where she attended high school at Sagrado Corazon De Jesus. She is among four Huskies who traveled from different countries to play for the team, including junior Pauline Chawafambira, freshman Meghan Montgomerie and sophomore Michelle Erasmus. Alvarez has a chance to surpass 100 total wins by the end of her final season at NIU. She picked up 57 singles wins and 36 doubles wins in her first three seasons and already has one of each this season. She’s now five wins away from the century mark.

Abigail Dekkinga

Sophomore Abigail Dekkinga comes to NIU from Allegan, Mich. where she attended Allegan Senior. Dekkinga had 39 total wins coming into her third campaign. She has 21 wins in singles matches and 20 wins in doubles matches in her career.

Evelyn Youel

Sophomore Evelyn Youel attended high school at Crystal Lake Central before arriving at NIU. Youel is No. 5, 2-4 and No. 6, 0-1 in singles matches. She now has 40 combined wins, 19 in singles matches and 21 in doubles matches.

Youel participated in the Gopher invite in the 2015-16 fall season after going 14-14 during the year. She finished sixth in Flight C at the invite.

Adel Osabuohien

Adey Osabuohien is a junior who hails from Hazel Crest and attended Homewood-Flossmoor for high school. She recently crossed the 70-win mark for her career and is also on pace to cross the 100-win mark in the next fall season. Osabuohien is in just her second season with NIU after spending time at Stony Brook. She has 14 combined wins at NIU.