Kansas Tennis Travels to Oklahoma for ITA Regional Tournament
LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Kansas women’s tennis team will continue its fall season as the Jayhawks travel to Norman, Okla., for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Tournament. This year’s event is hosted by the University of Oklahoma at the Headington Family Tennis Center from Thursday, Oct. 17 through Sunday Oct. 21.
First-year head coach Todd Chapman aims to increase the squad’s level of competitiveness, as the team squares-off against tough opponents in the Regional tournament.
“I think the biggest thing we’re looking for is improvement from our first tournament,” said Chapman. “It doesn’t always mean improvement from a standpoint of wins and losses, it just means an improvement in mentality in pressure situations, how we handle if we’re not playing our best.”
The Jayhawks traveled to Midland, Texas in September to kick off the fall slate at the Midland Invitational. The opening tournament proved to be a struggle for the team, but Kansas took advantage of a month break to work on its weaknesses.
“Hopefully we look like we’re in better shape, the girls have been working really hard in that area with strength and conditioning,” said Chapman. “That’s my biggest thing, showing progress. A lot of the teams we play against in this tournament, we play this spring. It gives us a good chance to see where we are and measure ourselves where these teams are right now, and get a good feel of how far we need to go and what areas we really need to improve upon.”
Kansas will send a lineup consisting of senior Dylan Windom, senior Paulina Los, junior Maria Belen Ludueña, sophomore Maria Jose Cardona, and sophomore Anastasija Trubica. The doubles teams will be Ludueña and Cardona, and Windom and Los. Cardona qualified for the main draw and will begin singles play on Friday, Oct. 18 while the rest of the Jayhawks will play in the qualifying rounds on Thursday, with hopes of joining their teammate.
As Chapman noted, KU will have an opportunity to take on numerous teams on their schedule for the spring including four Big 12 Schools (Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Kansas State) and local rivals UMKC, Oral Roberts, Wichita State and Nebraska.
“We all walked away from Midland knowing that we have things to work on, so that’s my mentality of just showing progress in those areas,” said Chapman. “And if we do that and we play hard, that’s what I’m mainly looking for. Obviously, it would be great to do really well. Our biggest approach is that we’re going there truly believing we’re going to be successful and having the mentality of expecting success.”
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