Five new tennis players to debut for IU in adidas Hoosier Classic

The IU women’s tennis team opens its 2011 season this weekend at home with the adidas Hoosier Classic. The three-day tournament includes Georgia, Notre Dame, Kansas State and Abilene Christian.

The tournament will consist of four flights of singles play and one flight of doubles play. Competition begins with singles play at 11 a.m. Friday.

“This is by far the best (fall) tournament we are going to play,” IU Coach Lin Loring said. “We’ve got two perennial top-eight teams here in Notre Dame and Georgia. Kansas State is very good, and Abilene Christian is a top-10 Division II team.

“It’s going to be ... our best competition of the fall, so it is going to show us a lot.”

All-American Leslie Hureau and All-Big Ten selection Evgeniya Vertesheva are among five returning Hoosiers, but there are five freshmen on the team this year.

“This tournament is important for us as a team,” sophomore Kayla Fujimoto said. “Half the team is brand new, and it’s the first time we’ll be in a match environment together, so it’ll be a chance to establish some unity as a team.”

The Hoosiers see this weekend as a learning opportunity and a chance to compete against some of the best collegiate players in the country, including the 2010 NCAA singles champion Chelsey Gullickson from Georgia.

Loring said wants to see the work from practice carry over into the matches this
weekend.

“I just want to see us play well — I don’t care about the wins and losses,” Loring said. “We’ve done some really good things in practice. We’re actually so far ahead of where we were, probably in the last ten years, at this time.”