ALFRED, NY -- The Alfred University men's tennis team has its sights set on the 2025 season starting next week.

The team will look to rebound and grow from a 2-9 season and a first-round tournament loss to the eventual-Empire 8 Champions Houghton Highlanders. They will do so with some turnover, including four new members of the squad. One prominent figure will be first-year player Ricardo Alvarez Janik (La Orotava, Spain/Colegio Casa Azul), ready to make an impact.

"I don't want to put everything on one player, especially a new player, but the nice thing about college tennis is that it's a team aspect," Head Coach Jake Fisler said. "We've got a really close-knit group, and I'm excited to see where we're headed together."

Aside from the four new members, the Saxons will have the usual suspects leading the line with several returners. Some of those top returners include juniors Matthew Bittel (Wellsville, NY/Wellsville) and Bill Tran (Hanoi, Vietnam/Grace Christian).

The one player to watch, however, will be Breece Erickson (Goshen, IN/Bethany Christian). The sophomore specializing in both singles and doubles play will look to add on to his resume from his freshman year on a growing team with plenty of opportunities. 

"I think there's so much opportunity for official and unofficial leadership within our program," Fisler said. "I don't think I have specific expectations for one person to do this or to do that. But if they know 'hey, as you get a little bit older, you have more stake' and just knowing those have really bought in makes it so much easier for everybody to follow that first follower-ship as we talk about."

Fisler also comes into the men's side as the new head coach in his first season. He brings into the spring season experience coaching with the Alfred University women's tennis team in the fall.

In addition, the men's tennis squad had a one-off appearance in the fall against SUNY Oneonta. Fisler had an idea of what the team was like then, and had time throughout the winter offseason to prepare for the upcoming spring season.

"I try to make things as realistic as possible with the highest level of challenge," Fisler said. "I think there's always going to be a bit of growing pains in terms of any sort of transition, but we know where we're headed. We know where we're trying to get and we know where we're going. Everyone has bought into that process."

The process begins on February 25 against Penn State Behrend, continuing on through the beginning of May for the Empire 8 Championship Tournament. For the Saxons, they see both growth and opportunity to strike this season.

With the right coach and right group of players, anything is possible. At the very least, it's the start of upward growth and progress for the Saxons tennis program.

"I think when you look at the conference, I feel like it's open for anybody," Fisler said. "I don't want us to be a program where we win one championship and you never hear from us again. We're more committed to that long-term process of building a winning team culture, and that's more important than one match we win or one conference tournament ... but with that being said, of course, it would be nice to win!"