After a successful fall campaign, the Washington State University women’s tennis team will go on a brief hiatus until Montana State visits Pullman in mid-January. The players may be on a break, but Head Coach Lisa Hart has been hard at work.

Hart recently signed Ireland-native Holly Monahan to a National Letter of Intent and plans to have her in Pullman by fall 2014.

“She’s No. 1 in Ireland, which is pretty impressive,” Hart said. “We had the opportunity to watch her compete, and we really like her as a player. We also think she can really develop into an even better player.”

Monahan is ranked No. 1 in Ireland for under 18 and has won awards such as the Irish National Junior Matchplay title and the Junior Irish Close Championship. Monahan will play as the newest addition to a WSU Tennis team that only has players from Europe.

“We always recruit American players first, and we’ve had American players in the past, and I’m sure we will again, but our goal is to get the very best student athletes to come to WSU,” Hart said. “If we’re not able to do it with the top Americans then we go to the different countries.”

A native of Sunnyside, Wash., Hart grew up playing tennis in places such as Yakima and won a state championship. Later, she played tennis at the University of Nebraska before she became the head coach at WSU.

“I’ve always been passionate about the game,” Hart said. “I played in college, and I really wanted to teach, then the opportunity came, and I really wanted to coach. Since coaching is a lot like teaching, I really fell in love with it.”

Hart knows what to expect from her team and doesn’t accept being anything better than being in the top-20 in the country.

“There are over 310 Division-I women’s tennis programs. We’re always striving to be going to the NCAA tournament every year, but I’d like to get to the point where it’s not like, ‘I hope we can go this year.’ I hope we can host this year,” Hart said. “Only the top 16 host, so I’d like to always be in that top 20.”

During her tutelage, she has had the opportunity to see players like senior Olga Musilovich grow as an athlete. Hart said she appreciates the privilege of watching her teaching take shape.

“When she (Musilovich) started, she wasn’t really in the lineup, but now she’s definitely a key contributor in singles and doubles,” Hart said. “I think everyone is on their journey, some are further along and some are just beginning. I think we’re in a good spot right now with our kids.”