Hoosiers head to Georgia to prepare for spring duals

The IU women’s tennis team will be in Athens, Ga., Friday through Sunday competing in the Georgia Invitational against Georgia, Troy and Kansas State.

Individual players and doubles teams will receive victories and losses during the tournament, but the No. 45-ranked Hoosiers will return with a 0-0 team record because the tournament does not count towards team records.

IU coach Lin Loring said he wants to see how his players perform after a long competition layoff due to dead week, finals week and winter break.

“We literally have not been together as a team for almost six weeks,” Loring said. “So this is going to be really, really important as far as letting us know what lineup we might want to play that following weekend.”

The Hoosiers will be tested by the depth of the host team. Georgia is ranked 15th in the country and boasts five of the nation’s top 100 singles players, according to Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings.

The team had to sacrifice one fall tournament to be able to play in the Georgia Invitational.

However, Loring said the swap was well worth it because of the timing and format of this weekend’s tournament.

“It’s going to be really good competition, especially since we will have literally had only three days of practice,” Loring said.

“So that’s one of the reasons we scheduled a non-scoring event is so we could get some matches in before we actually start the next weekend with dual matches that count.”