Hoosiers go on ‘discovery trip,’ open fall season at Wake Forest tourney

After about a week of practices, the IU women’s tennis team is gearing up for its first fall tournament, the Wake Forest Invitational, which will take place this weekend in Winston-Salem, N.C. While this tournament will not determine team rankings, it will eventually influence individual rankings at the end of the season. More importantly, it will allow coaches to get a feel for the strengths and weaknesses of this year’s Hoosier squad, which features four freshmen. \n“It’s a get-your-feet-wet tournament,” IU coach Lin Loring said. \nLoring, who is in his 31st season as head coach, did not state specific win-loss expectations for the team, emphasizing that the tournament is like a ‘discovery trip.’\n“We just really want to see everyone play in a competitive situation,” he said. \nIt will have been more than a month since the team played its last tournament, so the staff is more concerned with developing players for the spring than winning matches, Loring said. This tournament is also different because many of the teams involved are not on IU’s fall schedule. This weekend’s tournament features host Wake Forest as well as Dartmouth, Charlotte and Davidson, among others. This allows the team to break the monotony of playing the same teams each year.\nJunior Alba Berdala, who led IU in the No. 1 singles spot last year, echoed Loring’s thoughts.\n“We start to prepare for the (spring) season,” Berdala said.\nThe fall schedule also includes a tournament at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., next month. Loring switched out of a regional tournament for the one at Vanderbilt to offer the team a bit of diversity as far as competition. \n“It’s fun to play new teams,” Loring said. “(With) such a young team, quality is as important for a semester as quantity.”\nThe team must replace last year’s seniors Laura McGaffigan and Cecile Perton, making these tournaments especially important for finding good doubles combinations. Loring hopes that these fall tournaments will allow the team and the coaching staff to see which players form the best duo. \n“It’s a good experimental time for doubles combinations,” Loring said. \nThe Hoosiers welcome freshmen Maria Guerrerio, Charlotte Martin, Myriam Sopel and Ekaterina Zapadalova and the veteran players are confident in their new teammate’s abilities.\n“All four are really well-prepared,” Berdala said.