Both the BYU men’s and women’s tennis teams are taking to the road this weekend, one to Washington, the other to Colorado.
The women’s team starts its road trip in Pullman, Wash., to take on Washington State on Friday and then the University of Idaho on Saturday. This begins a month-long road trip.
“We are gone a lot, but it’s a fun time of the year,” junior Aubrey Paul said. “The main part is just keeping on top of things. You put more into practice because you know there’s a day of traveling.”
Players and coaches realize they need to accomplish more things in less time.
BYU coach Lauren Jones-Spencer stresses keeping up with both tennis and academics in the players’ lives.
“Traveling is always hard,” Jones-Spencer said. “It’s all about balance and staying on top of things.”
The Cougars are coming off a tough 4-3 loss to Wisconsin and are looking to put away both matches.
The last time BYU faced off with Washington State, BYU was handed 5-2 loss on its own court and is now looking forward for a chance to repay the favor. The Cougars take to the courts at noon PST Friday and again Saturday to take on the Idaho Vandals, who also will travel to Pullman to play.
Meanwhile, the BYU men’s tennis team will only be away for one week before returning home. They take on Air Force Academy on Thursday in Colorado Springs and then travel to Mile-High City to take on the Denver Pioneers Friday.
Both Air Force Academy and Denver sit higher than Provo and will pose a challenge with higher altitudes.
“We purposely scheduled Air Force [before Denver], who has good players, but isn’t quite as good as Denver, so that we could get a match underneath our belt at a more extreme altitude,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said.
BYU has had the upper hand on Air Force for years and the team is confident in its ability to put away this match. The last time Denver and BYU met, the Cougars swept the Pioneers, but Pearce said this Denver team has solid players at every position.
“It will be a tough match,” Pearce said. “We’re going to keep our heads down and focus on each and every point when we face them and hope it goes our way.”
The Air Force Academy is coming off a tough loss to Army while Denver is coming off a 6-1 victory over Arizona.
The Cougars play the Falcons Thursday at 4 p.m. and the Pioneers Friday at 7 p.m.
