After a disappointing season mired by many injuries to key players, the University of Utah?s women?s tennis team is going to attempt to make a run at the Mountain West Conference title. The Utes finished last season with a record of 7-14.
The men?s tennis team also had a disappointing year, as it finished fifth in the Mountain West Conference.
Leading the women this year will be team captain Irini Kotoglou, Cassie Kasteler, Sheri Esrock and Linn Ronnberg.
This week, the women?s team will host the Utah Invitational from Oct. 4 to 7, and will compete against three teams. Utah State, Weber State and Southern Utah will come up to compete against each other.
Utah State is led by junior Sarah Lowe, though she did not do very well in her opener, as she lost a match to Weber State?s Threina Steenkamp.
Steenkamp will lead the Wildcats into the Eccles Tennis Center. She has also already scored an impressive win over BYU?s Dominique Reynolds.
Southern Utah does not have much talent, though Kelly Paterson and Ashlee Gardner lead the team, as they posted 10-6 and 9-7 individual records last year.
This weekend will be a great test to find out if the Utes can compete in the MWC. They must show well in this tourney because things don?t get any easier afterward.
Meanwhile, leading the U men will be David Mercier, who finished on the MWC All Conference team. Nicholas Yip and Corrie Scheepers will be the senior leaders.
This weekend, the men will head up to BYU to compete against the Y, Boise State, Utah State and Weber State.
BYU is the favorite, as it won the MWC last year. Utah will have to test its thought of competing in the Mountain West against BYU.
Weber State, Utah State and Boise State will also help determine if the Utes have improved over the offseason.
Men’s coach F.D. Robbins knows this match is important.
?Its a good way to see where the players are at and how they will react to different situations,? he said.
After disappointing seasons for both teams, they will see if they can compete for a conference title with a preview of the season this weekend.