Tennis uses challenging fall schedule to prepare for spring
September 2, 2015
Both South Dakota State men’s and women’s tennis teams are gearing up for a quadruple amount of meets, which will all take place over the course of the next two months –leading into the change in season.
To begin their fall season, the Jackrabbits head west to Rapid City to compete in the Black Hills College Invite.
The women, led by Head Coach Michael Engdahl, are hitting the courts following a solid season in which the Jacks earned themselves a 15-8 overall record, finishing 5-2 in Summit League play. The Jackrabbit women lost no letterwinners after last season, so they look to improve on their previous record. The Jacks women welcome two newcomers this season: Emma Foster from England and Morgan Brower of Sioux Falls.
The SDSU women will follow up a performance in Rapid City with a trip to Minneapolis to compete in the Gopher Invitational the last weekend of September. They then continue on to Stillwater, Okla. to participate in the ITA Central Regional.
To finish off the fall season, the Jacks women will travel to Northridge, Calif. to compete in the CSUN Invitational.
The Jackrabbit men, who are also coached by Engdahl, look to build on a season last year that earned a record of 14-10. When it comes to conference play, the Jacks 2014-15 team went 3-3 in that department.
They look to build by returning seven letterwinners and only losing three seniors from last year’s squad. They will look to make up for some lost experience with the addition of three freshmen newcomers: Emerson Styles and Elliot Ward from England, and Chuck Tang from Rapid City.
The Jackrabbit men hit the road for the River Forest Collegiate Invitational in River Forest, Ill. In River Forest, the Jacks will square off against nine different teams from conferences across the nation—including schools such as DePaul and Xavier. Both of these schools come out of the Big East conference, which is known to feature some high-level tennis.
They round out the fall season making a brief stop in Omaha to compete in the Omaha College Invitational, and then finishing in Fayetteville, Ark. at the ITA Central Regional.
