Speerschnieder eyeballs his first national championship as Skidmore head coach
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (BVM) – The Skidmore women’s tennis team is one with a storied tradition of winning and success. A large reason for said success is due to their longstanding coach, Curt Speerschnieder. Coming off of a cancelled season, the Thoroughbred coach looks to bring his team back to the NCAA playoffs in hopes that he can win his first national championship.
Since his college days playing at North Carolina State, Speerschnieder has always been a coach. He began his coaching career at his alma mater, where his quick success led to a head coaching job at Washington and Lee University.
During his tenure with the Generals, Speerschnieder was dominant, coaching multiple players to singles NCAA championships while boasting the No. 2 team in the nation. However, with this success, Speerschnieder decided it was time for him to move on, joining Skidmore College as the women’s tennis head coach.
Speerschnieders impact was immediately felt, bringing Skidmore back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in seven years. The Thoroughbreds have been back every year since and more accolades have followed, including winning Liberty League Coach of the Year eight times, something no other coach in his conference has even come close to. He has a jaw dropping 177 wins with 13 Liberty League titles. If these numbers don’t show it, Speerschnieder is the real deal, and his team will look to make some major noise going into this season.
As for the Skidmore women’s tennis team, the roster will be as stacked as ever, with strong senior leadership from Jackie Ahn and Risa Fukushige. In 2019, Skidmore was ranked No. 14 in Division III tennis and the girls seem to not be stopping there.
The players from the 2019 group, as well as coach Speerschnieder, will provide the group with a sense of experience. This is harder to come by because of the fact that many girls have yet to play a competitive game of college tennis due to the season cancellation last spring.
It’s clear that it is not only Speerschnieder’s goal, but the goal of the entire team to not only make, but compete in the NCAA championship. Looking into the future, it is unclear how the season is going to shape up due to the ongoing pandemic, however, the one thing that does seem to be clear is the fact that when the season starts, Speerschnieder and the Thoroughbreds will be competing with everything they have in attempt to bring a national championship home to Saratoga Springs.
