With the completion of the Missouri women’s tennis team’s final home match of the season Sunday at Green Tennis Center, the careers of seniors Nina Pantic and Jamie Mera inched closer to the end.

While having players exit the program due to graduation is nothing new to college athletics, the Tigers might be losing the two most important players on their current roster.

“They’re great players, very talented,” Schmid said. “We will be losing a lot when they leave. There will definitely be a void that we will need others to step up and fill.”

Mera has been with the Tigers since her freshman year and is having a great follow-up campaign in 2012 after she won an impressive 15 singles matches last season.

Pantic, the team’s No. 1 singles player, spent her first three years playing at UCLA, where she was an Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 Academic selection in 2010 and compiled a singles record of 10-2 in 2011.

While Schmid has done some lineup shuffling throughout the season, Pantic and Mera have accounted for the No. 1 doubles team since the home opener and have notched some very impressive wins.

At one point, the Pantic-Mera duo possessed a five-match winning streak, which included wins over the No. 1 doubles duos of then-No. 71 Minnesota and then-No. 62 Virginia Tech.

On Sunday, against Kansas State, Pantic and Mera won their doubles match handily, 8-3. The victory marked the peak of their success as doubles partners, Mera said.

“It was probably the best we’ve played all season,” Mera said. “We played tough and won the key points when we had to.”

But it’s not just their great play that makes them such valuable assets to the team, Schmid said.

“Both Nina and Jamie are excellent leaders,” she said. “They are vocal and also lead by example, which is important on a team of only seven players. They are just great teammates.”

Mera said her leadership involves a great deal of positivity.

“I was always supportive of teammates, no matter what was going on,” she said. “You could always count on me.”

Pantic said her intent has been to keep the game fun for her and her teammates.

“I always tried to make light of situations, to always have a good time and make the experience better,” she said.

Losing those attitudes will definitely be something the Tigers need to overcome, Schmid said.

“They both have awesome personalities, and are well liked by everybody on the team,” she said. “We will definitely miss them.”

As much as the team will miss their two leaders, Mera said she is also saddened that her time as a Tiger is ending.

“It has been great,” she said. “It’s nice to be on a team so passionate with what we are doing. I have loved playing at Mizzou.”