Three and a half months removed from its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2010, the IU women's tennis team will kick off the 2013-14 season this weekend with its annual Hoosier Classic tournament.
The Hoosiers will host Cincinnati, Eastern Michigan, Kansas State and Western Michigan for the three-day event.
Singles matches will begin Friday morning. The final round of doubles play is on Saturday afternoon with the championship singles matches scheduled for Sunday morning.
IU will look to build off of its 18 victories in 2012-13, which was the program's highest win total in a season since 2007-08.
The Hoosiers return seven players from last season. Sophie Garre and former Butler transfer Gabrielle Rubenstein are the only seniors, in terms of athletic eligbility on IU's roster.
Redshirt junior Kayla Fujimoto will suit up in cream and crimson once again this season after sitting out last year due to an injury.
The Hoosiers have four true juniors--Katie Klyczek, Carolyn Chupa, Alecia Kauss and Shannon Murdy--who were mainstays on an IU team that was ranked as low as 32nd in the country, according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
IU returns nearly 74 percent of its singles victories from last season.
The Hoosiers will look to replace graduated seniors Leslie Hureau, a four-time first team All-Big Ten player in her career at IU, and Jithmie Jayawickrema.
After not signing any freshmen in 2012, the Hoosiers will have three freshmen this season. Paula Gutierrez (Alhaurin de la Torre, Spain), Mary Beth King (Naperville, Ill.) and Kim Schmider (Cheshire, England) are the latest additions to the IU women's tennis team.
