Loring emphasizes competing

The IU women’s tennis team travels this weekend to Cincinnati for the Ohio Valley Intercollegiate Tennis Association regional tournament.

The event is a qualifier for the National Indoor Championship, which takes place Nov. 5 to 8 at Yale University.

Despite the potential for players to qualify for the national tournament, IU coach Lin Loring views the regional tournament as an opportunity for players to gain experience in preparation for the spring season. He said he does not expect any IU players to reach the national level.

“For me, this tournament is about getting some matches in,” Loring said. “There is only one winner.”

In the team’s last tournament, the North Florida Invitational, several players never got the chance to compete. Loring said he hopes each player can play several times at the ITA regional.

“We just need matches, especially after Jacksonville. Some of the players got no matches,” Loring said. “Everything in the fall is to get ready for the spring. Ideally, everybody will get three single and three doubles, and if they get more than that, great.”

Loring said he believes the team will benefit from the realignment of regions that occurred for this year’s regional tournaments. In previous years, the Hoosiers played fellow Big Ten teams that they would already play at other points in the season.
 
This year, their new region consists of teams from southern Indiana, southern Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky. Loring is excited about the team facing different competition than what they are accustomed to.

“It’s good for us because you get sick of seeing the Big Ten schools after a while,” Loring said. “Now, the only Big Ten schools in it are actually Purdue and us. We get to see a bunch of Kentucky and Tennessee schools, the powers being Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Tennessee. We play two of those schools