WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – The year that seniors Sophie Herzing (St. Mary's, Pa./Elk County Catholic) and Mariah Durrant (Manchester, Md./Manchester Valley) joined the Lycoming College women's tennis team, it was trying to recover from a winless campaign in 2012-13. As freshmen, the pair helped the Warriors win two matches. The number jumped to five as juniors and this year, the four-year starters have helped Lycoming win a school-record 13 matches and reach the MAC Commonwealth Championship semifinals for the first time since 2011.
 
The fourth-seeded Warriors (13-5 overall, 4-3 MAC Commonwealth) will open the conference tournament by heading to top-seeded Lebanon Valley (13-4 overall, 7-0 MAC Commonwealth) at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 3, with the winner facing the winner of a match between No. 2 Messiah and No. 3 Alvernia in the conference finals on Saturday, May 6.
 
The Warriors have made an eight-win jump under sixth-year head coach LeRoy Baer, winning a school-record 13 matches thanks in large part to a balanced lineup that has won 60 percent of its doubles matches and 61 percent in singles play.
 
Freshmen Hannah Summerson (South Williamsport, Pa./South Williamsport) and Julia Nagle (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) have been a larger part of the renaissance, with the pair teaming up to win a school-record 14 matches at No. 2 doubles. Summerson also has tied the school record with 14 singles wins, all at the No. 1 singles slot, and Nagle is right behind her with a 12-7 mark at No. 4.
 
Herzing has won a career-best seven singles matches at the No. 2 slot while teaming with junior Kaitlin Hallabuk (Towanda, Pa./Towanda Area) to win eight matches at No. 1 doubles. Hallabuk, meanwhile, has won 12 matches at No. 3 singles, tied for the fourth-most in program history.
 
At the bottom of the lineup, sophomore Kimberleigh Parroccini (Warren, Pa./Warren Area) has seen her singles record jump from 1-11 to 8-7 at the No. 5 singles slot and Durrant has posted a 10-5 record while playing at both the No. 5 and No. 6 singles slots.
 
Parroccini has also won eight matches at No. 3 doubles and she found a regular partner at the position late in the year in sophomore Brittany Lenze (St. Mary's, Pa./Elk County Catholic), with the two combining to post a 5-2 record at the spot.
 
Lycoming fell to Lebanon Valley, 8-1, in the first meeting between the two teams, but that came without Parroccini, who was fighting off an injury. Summerson earned the lone point at No. 1 singles, posting a 6-3, 6-3, win over Marla Scacchitti, but the Warriors won at least four games in all three doubles matches.
 
The Warriors are appearing in the conference tournament for just the second time since joining the MAC Commonwealth in 2007. Lycoming made eight appearances in the conference tournament from 1981-03 under former head coach Deb Holmes, reaching the conference finals in 1981 and 1998.