By Emily Baker
The BYU women”s tennis team is hosting the BYU Invitational beginning Thursday, Oct. 11. The tournament will go through Saturday, Oct. 13.
Teams from Washington State, Colorado State, Boise State, Weber State and the University of Utah will square up on the indoor courts.
“We invited teams that would give us good competition,” coach Craig Manning said. Usually BYU hosts more teams, but the number of courts is limited because the event is being held indoors due to cold weather.
The BYU team headed indoors for practice this week to prepare for the tournament. The indoor courts allow for quicker response of the ball and the feet than the outdoor surfaces do, Manning said.
The invitational will include two singles flights. The top players will be placed in the top division, and the rest will compete in the second division.
The doubles teams are placed in one flight. The first round of matches will start at 8 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, and go until 4:30 p.m. that afternoon. The semi-finals will be Friday, Oct. 12, starting at 1 p.m. The Saturday, Oct. 13, singles and doubles finals will start at 10 a.m.
Manning said he has no real expectations, but this tournament will help the players see where they are and what they need to work on. The women”s practice format has been normal but after the invitational, practices will be modified, Manning said.
U of U coach John Tsumas said, on the university”s Web site, “I think the competition in Provo will be very strong. 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.”
Lu Oswald, Brooke Beverly, Lindsay Ferrell and two BYU men”s players competed in the World Team Tennis National Collegiate Championships two weeks ago. BYU took third place in the tournament.
Ferrell pulled her hip flexor two days before the tournament and was unable to play.
“I think playing in that tournament will help Lu and Brooke in this tournament,” Ferrell said.
“Playing more matches toughens you mentally — it helps you deal with the pressure and make fewer errors,” Ferrell said.
The BYU team tries to focus on performance goals in each match and in each tournament, Ferrell said.
“It takes the focus off outcome goals — I try to focus on my game instead,” Ferrell said.
