After playing well last week in the Utah Invitational, the University of Utah?s women’s tennis team will compete in Provo at the BYU Invitational this weekend.
Five teams will compete in the tournament, which begins today: Boise State, BYU, Washington State, Colorado and Utah.
?I think competition in Provo will be very tough. I hope we have learned from our mistakes in the previous tournament. This is going to be a great test for us, and I?m looking forward to it,? said U coach John Tsumas.
Last week, Utah had Irini Kotoglou and Linn Ronnberg in the doubles finals, while Sheri Esrock made it into the quarterfinals in singles play.
The Utes will be hoping to carry over their strong play and improve this weekend, in order to compete with their opponents this weekend and set the stage for their regular season next January.
BYU is led by Brooke Ferney, Brooke Beverly and Lu Oswald, who all competed at the World Tennis Championships in San Diego, Calif., while junior Dominique Reynolds competed at Weber State the same weekend.
The Colorado Buffaloes come into the match coming off a great showing at the Colorado Challenge.
The Buffaloes are led by senior Sarah Austin and freshman Kate Lugert, who were impressive last week and will be a force to be reckoned with. Tracy Moore, Lia Domingo, and Kendra Srandemos also will be tough for the Utes to handle.
Washington State will be the toughest team at the tournament and is led by ranked players Stacy McKenna and Erica Perkins.
The combo also play doubles together and are ranked 27th in the nation. The team has received great play out of Lorena Arias.
Boise State is led by senior Jemima Attard and has had great play out of freshman Erin Palowski.
The Broncos played Washington State last weekend and struggled mightily.
The Utes will have their hands full as the competition has taken a decided step up from last week.
Washington State is the favorite for this tournament and is looking to dominate the competition. However, Utah needs to provide some type of competition if it wants to improve from last year’s disappointing season marred by numerous injuries.