With one of its three fall season tournaments in the books, the IU women’s tennis team is set for its second as it splits up this coming weekend for two different regional tournaments.
Associate Head Coach Ramiro Azcui will take sophomore Madison Appel and seniors Kim Schmider and Paula Gutierrez with him to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Ohio Valley Regional. Gutierrez looks to get back on track after a rough start to the season at the Hoosier Classic.
“I wasn’t really ready to play when the Hoosier Classic took place because I had a long summer without competing,” Gutierrez said. “So, now that I’ve been practicing and playing matches against the girls in practice, I think I will be ready for this tournament.”
Gutierrez also said she hopes to carry her momentum from last year into this year.
“I had a good season last year so I just want to bring that same play into this year and improve on some of the things I was missing last year to be even better,” Gutierrez said.
While those three are representing the Hoosiers in Tennessee, IU Coach Lin Loring will have the remaining six players in Bloomington as IU looks to defend its home courts at the IU Regional. One of those six is sophomore Caitlin Bernard, who has some specific things she wants to focus on.
“I want to stay focused, get some decent wins and just stay consistent,” Bernard said.
The goals Bernard has are perfect to have for this fall season because the fall is all about focusing on individual improvements, Loring said. Each member of the team has three or four things they work on consistently at practice every week, and Loring wants to see that improvement carry into competitions.
It is all about the technique in the fall, and, for Loring and the team, technique is what allows them to be ready when dual matches roll around.
“For some girls it’s their service toss,” Loring said. “A lot of them we are working on spin, depth and net clearance. Again we are much more technique-oriented in the fall. As we start to go into the dual match season we are a lot more strategy-oriented because if you don’t have the technique by then it’s too late.”
The three Hoosiers competing at the ITA Midwest Regional will start play Saturday and will play the following two days, whereas the ladies in Bloomington will kick off play Saturday and finish Sunday.
