The Blue Angels tennis team had another terrific season. A year in which the team matched the school's all-time record in team wins with six, even though two games on the schedule were rained out. At the end of the fall season, the Mount Mary University Blue Angels finished 6-2.

Following the success of one record breaking season is a difficult task for any team. The Blue Angels had an uphill battle to repeat last season's performance from day one, as they said goodbye to four seniors in the offseason, and were left with a very youthful team.

It was the exuberance of the young team that sparked some early season victories. The first dual match of the year was against a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference team. Concordia University Chicago was looking to take advantage of a young team, and jumped out to a quick 2-1 lead in doubles matches. It was the underclasswomen who got it going for the Blue Angels, Ana Mercado (So./Grafton, Wis.) won the number one singles, Shauna Jacobs (Fr./East Troy, Wis.) was victorious in her second flight singles match, and Andrea Monacelli (So./Sussex, Wis.) won via retirement after controlling the first set. By the end of the dual match, MMU won 6-3 over the Cougars. If anything the game foreshadowed the ability of the Blue Angels to always comeback late with top notch singles play.

In the two losses, the Blue Angels found out more about themselves than they did in their victories. Against Alverno College, MMU lost 6-2, and were swept in the doubles matches. The bright spot was the third, fifth, and sixth singles flights for the Blue Angels, as they won, or were winning before called for daylight. Teams in that position normally throw in the towel, but MMU stayed and put up a valiant effort until the last moment. That tenacity carried through all season.

The Blue Angels carried a three dual match winning streak going into a matchup against a tough UW-River Falls, including a clean 9-0 sweep against NACC member Lakeland College. The match against
UWRF was another match where the Blue Angels were swept in doubles, but came fighting back in singles. MMU inevitably lost 6-2 to the Falcons.

Coach Tom Troast "Oddly the most memorable moment was our match against UW-River Falls, a day that we lost.  But the team played very hard on the back end of a long road trip against a talented, deep team.  It's great to compete point to point against a large UW school."

Following the UWRF matchup, the Blue Angels had two straight dual matches called for bad weather. The first was a rematch against Alverno College, a match that was 1-1, and had the Blue Angels ahead in the second flight doubles match once the rain hit. After getting swept in doubles the first time, many believed that MMU would have had the upper hand in the second meeting.

Days later, the Blue Angels were looking to lead the dual match 2-1 against MSOE before the inclement weather struck again. MMU had their second contest in a row called for rain, and again the Blue Angels appeared to have a lead going into singles matches, which is where MMU did best.

After a week of being teased with a 5-2 record only to have their chances ripped away by Mother Nature, the Blue Angels finally had their chance to tie their all-time school record of six wins against Roosevelt University. The singles flights were swaying towards MMU all season, Krista Olson (Jr./Appleton, Wis.), for example, went 7-0 in singles going into that final game. However, the doubles matches were the Achilles heel in 2014, Coach Troast knew it, "the biggest challenge for this year's team was putting together the doubles teams.  With the large turnover from last year, we needed to start all over again with new doubles' combinations.  I couldn't have been more pleased with the results. Getting doubles' team together is my favorite part of coaching, and the ladies worked very hard on their doubles' skills."

And it was a timely unification for the doubles teams when it took on Roosevelt University. The number two team had Nina Her (Sr./Brown Deer, Wis.) and Monacelli teamed up for only the second time this season, and in a close match the Blue Angels won 8-6 making the doubles score 1-1. The third flight saw another "green" team as Brooke Slamka (Jr./Racine, Wis.) and Sydney Dahlstrom (Jr./Marquette, Mich.) played their second match as a unit against RU, and they took control winning 8-4 and setting up a 2-1 score going into the singles flights. MMU split the singles matches and finally tied the school record of six wins in a season.

This was a special season for Blue Angels tennis, not only did they tie the school record for wins, but with back to back successful seasons the future is looking bright for the program. Coach Troast with some final thoughts on the group, "I will miss the personalities of this young team.  Each athlete is unique but are supportive of each other.  This team made coaching, practices and matches, fun along with a focused desire to achieve.  They are terrific students, and even better people to be around."