It’s not spring, but that doesn’t stop women’s tennis from getting its season started a little early.
In the Hoosier Classic, from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1, IU will welcome Western Michigan, Cincinnati, Eastern Michigan and Eastern Kentucky to Bloomington for a three-day tournament.
Team scores will not be recorded, making this event more of an individual-based tournament.
Each player will typically play at most three singles matches for this tournament. Doubles will still be played, but not as frequently.
The Hoosiers have been practicing for about two and a half weeks. Although IU Coach Ramiro Azcui said that isn’t a lot of time, he said he has been pleased with what he’s seen.
“I don’t think we have had one bad practice yet,” Azcui said. “I feel like with such a short time we’ve been practicing, we’ve accomplished a lot.”
IU is returning six of its nine players from last year’s team. They have added three freshmen and a transfer senior from Southern Illinois-Carbondale, whose tennis program came to an end after last season due to cost cutting measures by the university.
The returning six all played in Big Ten Conference matches last year, so the experience is there.
“It’s been neat to see how the upperclassmen have been trying to set the tone and show leadership for the freshmen and newcomers,” Azcui said. “They’ve done a great job setting an example.”
These fall tournaments are all about transitioning the practices into the games.
No times have been made official for the start of the matches on either day, but it will be played at the IU Varsity Tennis Courts unless there is inclement weather, in which the matches would be moved inside to the Tennis Center, located west of the courts.
“We’ve been emphasizing on just getting better for the spring,” Azcui said. “We are going to use these matches to improve on the little things in practice and making them work in matches ... I think we are a much better team this year.”
