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The Brandeis women’s tennis team is back, boasting new players, key veterans, an award winning coaching staff and a whole lot of depth.

“One of the biggest things that hurt us towards the end of [last] year was a lack of depth,” head coach Ben Lamanna told The Hoot.

After senior starter Emily Weisberger ’10 went down with a torn ACL, “we lost some of our depth and it was tough to recover from that,” explained Lamanna, who, along with assistant coach Payum Payman, earned University Athletic Association (UAA) Coaching Staff of the Year honors for his work with the men’s team.

The Judges were left with only six players–including Ariana Sanai ’10, who played hurt for the second half of the spring season–on the active roster.

Skip to today. With a nine-woman roster–five returnees and four first-years–the team is much deeper than last year. The depth exists not only in quantity, but also in the roster’s playing ability.

“Things are looking good. Over the course of my six years with the women’s program we get a step better every year … and this year’s no exception to that.”

Sophomore Faith Broderick is coming off an impressive first-year campaign in which she went 9-3 at second singles and 14-10 overall.

Rachel Rosman returns for her senior season as one of the winningest players in team history. Rosman owns a career record of 50-23 in singles, including a stellar sophomore season in which she played to a 15-4 record. She is 33-34 for her career in doubles competition and earned a pair of UAA Athlete of the Week nods last season.

Rosman’s co-captain, Mackenzie Gallegos ’11 is “a great doubles player,” and “a real rock for [the team].”

The veteran pair will be expected to set both a pace and a culture for the rest of the squad. Per the six-year head coach, the team is in good hands.

“Rachel and Mackenzie set a great tone. They’re always in tip top shape and they work really hard. I’m excited to have them mold the new group of four girls coming in. [They] should shed positive influence on the team’s younger players.”

The Judges were ranked as high as 26th last season before falling out of the national rankings at the end of the year. Lamanna believes he has the roster to get Brandeis back to where it was before injuries took their toll.

“Now’s the time to develop and see what we can do in some of these tournaments, to develop good doubles and depth. That’s what it takes to be good in DIII. 2 D’s. Depth and doubles.”

The objective? Simple.

“We gotta get back into the national rankings.”

The Judges begin their quest to do so when they host Wheaton (MA) College on September 15. The match begins at 3:30 p.m.