WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — The LSU women’s tennis team is set to begin its 2002 spring season on Friday, as the Lady Tigers compete in the William and Mary Invitational against the Michigan Wolverines at 2 p.m. in Williamsburg, Va.
“The entire team is looking forward to getting the season started tomorrow,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “All of our players have worked extremely hard during the offseason and it’s going to be good to play against some quality competition this weekend.”
The field for this weekend’s William and Mary Invitational is comprised of three nationally ranked teams. The 27th-ranked Lady Tigers head into the event as the top-ranked team in the field, while the home-standing William and Mary Tribe are ranked No. 49 and Penn State comes into the invitational as the 50th-ranked team in the nation. Michigan is the only non-ranked team in the field.
The William and Mary Invitational will be played in a hidden dual-match format in which each team will face the three opposing teams in what will eventually equal a dual match. The major difference between this weekend’s competition and a normal dual match is that the singles and doubles portions of the match will be played on different days.
LSU and Michigan are set to kick off the three-day event on Friday with the singles portion of their match at 2 p.m. On Saturday, the Lady Tigers will conclude its competition against Michigan with the doubles play, while LSU is also scheduled to face Penn State in a singles competition and William and Mary in doubles play. The Lady Tigers will complete its matches versus Penn State and William and Mary on Sunday.
“I think that the format for this tournament is going to be very helpful for us,” Minnis said. “It doesn’t count as a real dual match, but it is basically a dual match and a lot of our younger players will benefit from the experience. It will help us get prepared for the upcoming season.”
The Lady Tigers’ Tami Botts enters the William and Mary Invitational as the only ranked player in the competition. LSU’s senior is currently the 87th-ranked singles player in the nation and turned in the best fall season of her career in which she finished with an impressive 5-3 record.
The LSU women’s tennis team will begin its 2002 spring season on Friday as the Lady Tigers face Michigan in singles play at 2 p.m. in Williamsburg, Va.