Club Tennis exposed at tournament in Daytona
It took a season of preparation and a trip to the biggest club
tennis tournament in the nation for the members of CSU club tennis
to learn something very important: they need work.
A week prior to Spring Break two eight-member, co-ed teams
composed each of four males and four females traveled to Daytona
Beach, Fla., to compete in the USA Team Tennis Nationals. After two
days of the pool play team-A earned a birth to the Bronze (third)
bracket of the four-bracket tournament field, while team-B reached
the Daytona (fourth) bracket. Team-A went on to the semifinals in
the Bronze bracket before falling to Clemson while team-B faltered
in the first round of Daytona play.
For both teams the tournament posed their first brush with tough
competition.
“We were surrounded by competitive, tough teams,” said team
president Piper Morrell. “We noticed we have to work on quite a few
things next year. Hopefully we’re prepared. It was definitely a
learning experience.”
Adding to the experience was the clay courts on which the
tournament took place.
“This was the first time for a lot of players on clay,” Morrell
said.
She added that the humidity slowed the ball and forced the
high-altitude players to change their style of play.
“Playing at sea level is a lot different,” Morrell said. “At
elevation the ball moves fast, but the humidity slows it down at
sea level.”
The trip for the team was exhausting both physically and
financially, Morrell said.
“This was our first time going and our club has a limited amount
of money,” she said. “It took a lot of fundraising and each player
had to pay a lot of money (to go).”
A lack in funds is also why the team is unable to accommodate
all the students anxious to join.
“We had 130 people turn out for tryouts,” Morrell said, “but we
only have four courts for players.”
Adding to the teams’ frustration is the fact that participation
at other schools is minimal, leaving the level of competition below
expectations.
“There is a lot of participation here and little funding,”
Morrell said. “Other schools don’t have our level of participation
and that makes competition hard to find.”
The teams will take on more local competition next month in a
two-day, quadrangular tournament April 24 and 25 in Boulder against
Air Force, Colorado and UNLV.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.