Wednesday, November 7, 2001

C-USA tennis tourney held at TCU
By Quinten Boyd
Skiff Staff

The TCU women’s tennis team hosts many of its Conference USA foes at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. Although it could be described as a tournament for conference honors, head coach Roland Ingram does not see it that way.

“This is only a get to know each other tournament,” Ingram said. “We usually don’t see these teams until the team play season in the spring, so this is a good way for everyone involved to see what they have in store.”

However it is described, the Frogs will host the conference’s best from Friday until Sunday in the C-USA Individual Tournament. Many of the players viewed as the best by Ingram come from his own squad.

“If you take the top 20 players in the conference, I wouldn’t be surprised if TCU had six or eight of those players,” Ingram said.

The Frogs have had almost a two-week break between Friday and their last tournament, the Omni Hotels Southwest Championships. There, senior Katrin Gaber and the doubles tandem of Paty Aburto and Rosa Perez advanced to the semifinals before losing. Ingram said his team had the talent to win at the tournament.

“They could have won, but advancing that far gave the ladies a lot of confidence,” Ingram said. “They’re anxious to play this weekend.”

That anxiety will have to carry them over until January, since the Frogs will not play another tournament until January 26. This weekend’s tournament marks the end of the individual season, and the preparation will begin for the upcoming team play season.

“The recent successes of this team gives them an incentive to go out and practice over the next two months,” Ingram said. “None of us wants to go backwards after doing so well in the individual season. I’m not worried about a letdown because we’re all too excited.”

Tournament action will take place all day.

Quinten Boyd
q.m.boyd@student.tcu.edu