Kendall Kovick and Gracie Levelston of the BYU women’s tennis team will compete in the NCAA Doubles Championship this week in Orlando, Fla.
Their opening-round matchup comes on Wednesday against San Diego State’s Jo-Yee Chan and Vessa Turley. The Aztec duo secured their spot in the tournament by claiming the doubles championship at the ITA Conference Masters Championships earlier this month.
Kovick and Levelston have spent the past month preparing after punching their ticket to Orlando by winning the ITA Mountain Regional more than a month ago on Oct. 11. The fifth-year senior and junior representing BYU will make it two years in a row that BYU sends a doubles team to the NCAA Doubles Championship.
Coach Holly Hasler has high confidence in her experienced pair.
“I’m most looking forward to the girls seeing the level that they can play at,” she said. “I feel like they could be pushed harder. I’m hoping that [the tournament] is going to instill just a lot of confidence.”
Kovick and Levelston have yet to be tested so far this season. Their closest match at the Mountain Regional was an 8-4 win. However, Chan and Turley could prove to be a tough out as they impressed along the way to secure their bid to nationals.
Hasler, who has competed in grand slam tournaments herself, has been hitting with the duo, trying to show them what they’ll see on Wednesday. Her advice going into a stage like this: stay grounded.
“You’ve got to play one point at a time,” Hasler said. “If you focus too much on the outcome and the result, that sometimes can just add so much pressure that it can take you out of playing the right way.”
Hasler says her job throughout the tournament is to help her players trust their preparation and ability.
Kovick and Levelston have quickly found chemistry as a duo – and appear poised to make some noise in Orlando.