It has been one year and one week since the Clark Atlanta University Lady Panthers tennis team last competed on the court in an official contest.  That will change Saturday.

The Lady Panthers host Shorter University at 2 p.m. the CAU Tennis Courts.  The Lady Panthers, who didn't get a chance to defend their 2019 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tennis title last season, will play for the first time since a March 6, 2020 loss to Division I Georgia State. 

CAU was in the midst of a three-match losing streak when the 2020 season ended due to Covid-19 concerns nationwide.  But before that, the Lady Panthers had won four-of-five matches in the SIAC Round Up.

While this season there will be no SIAC conference play, CAU head coach Tara Turner is looking forward to seeing her squad back on the court.

"I'm excited," she said.  "We haven't been on the court in a year, but the young ladies on the team have been putting in a lot of hard work, now that we're back on campus.  We're just really excited to get back on the court and see everything come together."

Turner's squad lost a lot of experience over the past year with the graduation of seniors and All-SIAC players Vanessa Eusebio, Akilah Parker and Alexis Fletcher.

"I lost three, but we have three new freshmen coming in," Turner said of newcomers Madison Moffatt, Devynn Jackson and Keynon Thompson.  "Although I miss the three that are gone, I'm excited to see what the new trio will do."

One senior does return in Nicola Ramdyhan, the SIAC Freshman of the Year in 2018.

"Nicola is an amazing leader, on and off the court," Turner said. "I'm excited that she's going to be able to player senior season and I appreciate Nicola's leadership over the past few months."

Today they take on a Shorter squad that has struggled so far this season.  They opened the season with three straight losses to Christian Brothers University, West Alabama and Auburn University-Montgomery.   They got their first win of the season by defeating Piedmont College at the end of February but fell Friday to Valdosta State.