The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Experienced Group Leads UAB Women's Tennis Into Fall Season
9/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 16, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB women's tennis team has five tournaments on the fall schedule as the Blazers get back into individual match play and prepare for the dual-match spring season.
The fall campaign gets underway this weekend when the team makes the short trip down I-65 to Montgomery, Ala., for the Fall Blue & Gray Classic. The Blazers will see opponents from Clemson, South Carolina, Emory and Auburn University at Montgomery among others.
UAB will send its most experienced squad in coach Krissy Hall's three years onto the court this fall with a lineup that features eight returning players, including the top six from last year, and four seniors.
Among that group is two-time all-conference performer Evelien Strijker along with fellow three-year veterans Jenny Cape and Giorgia Romeo. Cape is coming off the best spring season of any Blazer, having posted a 14-5 singles record on her way to ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honors.
"This is the last fall season for our four seniors, so they really want to make it a good one and follow it up with a strong spring," Hall said. "They're motivated right now to finish on a good note, and that will start with these fall tournaments."
On the other end of the spectrum, freshman Caroline Faught will see her first collegiate action this fall as she works her way into the lineup. A local product from Vestavia Hills High School, Faught comes to UAB as a 4-star recruit by tennisrecruiting.net.
"Caroline is going to make a huge impact immediately, both in singles and doubles," Hall said. "Having all of our top six back, it's exciting to see where everyone is going to end up and to see where she'll end up amongst them."
Hall hopes the fall results will go a long way toward determining what that spring lineup will look like. Unlike the team format of the spring season, the fall tournaments all feature individual, flighted formats with no team scoring.
The tournaments are not only a chance for players to gain experience but also to work on new skills in an actual match setting.
"If there's something you've worked on a lot in the summer and fall and want to get comfortable using it in matches, this is the time to do it," Hall said. "It's also a time for us to figure out our doubles teams. Ideally, I'd love to know our doubles lineup for the spring by the end of the fall so our teams are comfortable playing together."
In addition to this weekend's event in Montgomery, UAB will also compete in Alabama's Roberta Alison Fall Classic (Sept. 24-26), Chattanooga's Steve Baras Fall Classic (Oct. 1-3) and the Rice Fall Classic (Oct. 8-10). The Blazers close out the fall with the ITA South Regionals at Samford as they assist the Bulldogs in hosting the event.
"We have a great fall schedule with some really good teams at all of the tournaments," Hall said. "We're going to be lucky enough to play in the Rice tournament with a lot of other Conference USA teams, so that's a great chance to see our conference competition for the first time in the fall.
"Our schedule should provide us a lot of good match play to prepare us and get us ready for what we'll see in the spring."
