GAC Tennis Coaches' Preseason Poll
 
BETHANY, Okla. — The Great American Conference has released its GAC Tennis Coaches' Preseason Poll and Southern Nazarene is picked to finish third in the 2015 season.
 
The Crimson Storm, who are eligible for the first time this season to compete in the Great American Conference Tournament, finished third last year at 3-2 in the conference and were 10-7 overall. SNU returns the GAC Player of the Year Masha Andrianova who is a perfect 11-0 all-time at No. 1 singles in the GAC. Andrianova is ranked No. 7 in the Central Region and heads into her senior year. Andrianova went 14-0 last year and 5-0 in the GAC.
 
Along with Andrianova is All-GAC First Team choice Natalia Moreno who went 10-5 overall and 3-2 in the GAC last year. Andrianova and Moreno combined to go 13-4 overall and 4-1 in the GAC at No. 1 doubles and start the year at No. 10 in the region. Karina Kotova also returns for her senior as she went 8-7 overall and 3-2 in the GAC at No. 4 singles. She also combined to go 12-5 overall and 3-2 in the GAC at No. 2 doubles.
 
Freshman Polina Chala, a native of Kharkiv, Ukraine, looks to add to the mix for SNU while Taylor Sullivan and Kaitlyn Atkeson both add depth, as they were OSSAA State Tournament participants.
 
Harding was picked as the preseason favorite with 35 points and five first place votes while Arkansas Tech was picked just ahead of SNU in second with 29 points and two first place votes. The Storm had 26 points and were five points ahead of East Central. Southeastern Oklahoma State, Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist rounded out the poll.
 
Harding closed the fall ranked third in the ITA Central Region poll. The Lady Bison placed two - Piper Huey an Ali Bishop in the Central Region's Top 20 singles rankings. Huey placed sixth and Bishop ended the fall ranked 12th. Huey and Bishop, along with Arielle Butler return from the top six that participated in last year's championship season.
 
Arkansas Tech, off an at-large appearance to the NCAA Tournament, return three All-GAC performers from 2014 – Bohdana Sardak, Tamara Bell and Olga Leyshyna. In the ITA Central Region rankings, Leyshyna garnered the No. 14 position and Sardak claimed the 18th spot.