By Anne Hansen
After the Cougars had a team or individual in all six finals of the women’s tennis invitational tournament, three BYU players won their divisions.
Dominique Reynolds and Lu Oswald won their singles divisions and the doubles team of Lu Oswald and Lindsay Ferrell finished first as well.
No other school had more than two players in the finals.
Coach Craig Manning was happy with the results, but felt it could have been better.
“We did well,” he said, “but we finished just a step behind where we could have.”
The women went into the tournament thinking about improvement, not victory.
“It’s good to have a competition at the beginning of the season, so we can wee what we need to work on,” Oswald said.
Reynolds started her matches hoping to keep a positive attitude, and, with first place in her division, was able to do it.
For senior team captain, Jodi Richardson, these games marked her first competition back from being injured.
Richardson remained injury-free, but losing in the finals after being ahead gave her something to work on.
“I make silly mistakes,” she said. “When I’m up I need to kick it up a grade.”
Ferrell said she loved the camaraderie that came in her first college meet.
“There was more of the support that comes from being on a team,” she said.
Ferrell lost in her singles final but felt that she and Oswald worked well together when they won the doubles match.
Overall, Manning said he is pleased and sees a lot of potential in his young team.
“There is so much talent. That means there is a lot of room for improvement,” he said.
Manning and his assistant coach Andy Noorda are said they are enjoying having a team of women who are willing to work hard.
“There are lots of girls who want to be good,” Manning said. “Our practices have been really tough.”
The tournament marks the beginning of a traveling pre-season that should bring a lot of practicing and many more wins.
“We didn’t put the icing on the cake,” Manning said. “But I’m really happy. We worked really hard to get there.”
