The LSU women’s tennis team will split for the weekend, sending two players to the Charleston Women’s Pro Tennis 10K in Charleston, South Carolina, and the remaining five to the Wildcat Invitational at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
The two tournaments mark the start of LSU’s fall season, and while players say they are ready to compete, getting used to mass play is the main objective.
“For our girls going to Northwestern, it’s about getting plenty of matches,” said co-head coach Michael Sell. “The more matches they get, the better they will become. We will then study those matches when we return to Baton Rouge and go to work on different things.”
For the chosen Charleston pair, junior Joana Vale Costa and freshman Jessica Golovin, it’s also about seeing the professional game, improving their Women`s Tennis Association professional rankings and gaining experience, Sell said.
The players heading to Evanston will compete against players from the University of Illinois at Chicago, DePaul University, Michigan State University, Drake University, Ball State University, University of Pittsburgh, Northwestern University and Eastern Michigan University, but unlike other tournaments, the team doesn’t know any of the opposing players’ names yet.
“I kind of like it that way,” said senior Ella Taylor. “Sometimes, you can get caught up looking at players and try to analyze them, but now it forces me to focus on myself more than worrying about my opponents.”
Mass play remains the biggest challenge for players in both Evanston and Charleston, Sell said. Taylor is one of players who played tournaments during the summer and said she feels ready for what’s to come.
“I played a really good tournament this summer and ended up playing 20 matches in a week, but I felt great because you get into a swing of it,” Taylor said. “By the end of the week, I was so used to playing that my confidence grew a lot, and I feel I’m still in that competitive mindset. I put in all the work, now we have to see how it goes in a more pressured situation in a match.”
For most players, the fall season is a warm-up to find their place and prepare both physically and mentally for the spring, but with the ITA All-American Championship coming up, the tournaments are part of preparing to meet the program’s high expectations.
“Whether they win the tournaments or win a few matches, it’s relevant based on how they go out and play,” Sell said. “If they understand their game style and how to get out of difficult situations on the court, it’s a success. Obviously, we hope that they win, but it’s more important that they take the right steps to get there.”