The St. Thomas women’s tennis team earned the No. 1 ranking in the MIAC preseason coaches poll, receiving four of 11 first-place votes to secure the top spot.

Coach Terry Peck began the season with a combined 574 victories between the men’s and women’s programs at St. Thomas and is back at the helm for his 25th season with the Tommies. Peck said the No. 1 ranking means his team is getting the recognition it deserves.

“(The ranking) means that our goals and our perception of our team is that we have gotten stronger and are respected in the midwest, and it’s validated,” Peck said.

Carleton College also received four first-place votes, but the Tommies earned 91 points in the coaches poll and edged out the Knights by one point to claim the top spot. Gustavus Adolphus College – the team that ended the Tommies’ season last year with a victory in the MIAC playoffs – received the other first place votes.

All-MIAC junior Shelby Henderson, who has a career record of 23-12 in singles and 23-14 in doubles at St. Thomas, said the team learned from the playoff loss last season.

“We learned that you have to be in the moment. You can’t hold back on anything. You have to play to the best of your ability and believe,” Henderson said. “We can’t treat the postseason as any other match. We have to put it all out there.”

The Tommies finished last year 8-2 in the conference and 15-4 overall. St. Thomas returns 10 players from last year’s roster and adds three new freshmen: Caitlin Bakke, Jenna Czarnecki and Jenna Zimmerman.

Among the returning players, last year’s Intercollegiate Tennis Association doubles All-America team of senior Kara Lefsrud (41-11 singles, 44-12 doubles) and junior Bridget Noack (26-6 singles, 31-7 doubles) will play a monumental role this season on and off the court.

“We all have to take a little responsibility. The three freshmen are so good, so positive and very confident with their game, so the biggest thing is just to make them feel welcome on this team,” Noack said.

Peck said he believes his team has what it takes to make a deep postseason run.

“The talent is there; they are having fun and putting the time in. I think our team is as deep as any team in the midwest,” Peck said. “We need to stay healthy – that will be the key.”

The Tommies as a team are unbeaten so far this year. St. Thomas knocked off Wisconsin-Stout on Sept. 17 before beating two Division-II opponents, Southwest Minnesota State and St. Cloud State, to start 2015. St. Thomas added a 9-0 win against Concordia for its first MIAC win of the season Sunday.

Noack said competing against D-II opponents early in the season provided great experience for the remainder of the year.

“It definitely helps to play Division-II opponents. They are very good, strong competitors, which makes good practice for all of our conference teams and our Florida tournament,” Noack said.

St. Thomas looks to remain unbeaten on the season when it hosts Northwestern College (Iowa) and University of Northwestern (Minn.) Feb. 21.

Travis Swan can be reached at swan9954@stthomas.edu.