Cyclone Tennis to Open Fall Season Friday

AMES, Iowa ? The Iowa State tennis team will kick off the fall season this weekend and will begin to build success one tournament at a time. The Cyclones will have three weekends of action during the fall campaign and will face their final test in the Western Michigan Tournament Nov. 6-8.

ISU has only scheduled three weekends of competition this fall, but according to head coach Armando Espinosa, each one will be a building block for a spring schedule that will actually count in the win and loss columns.

“We are changing the approach of the way we have done things in the past,” Espinosa said. “We can't look into results in the fall, because we are not really even close to being there. The tournaments we are playing will help prepare us for a better spring. Last year we were too focused on getting better results in the fall and I think that hurt us a little bit.”

According to Espinosa, the first building block and measuring stick will be the Cyclones' ground stroke game. Iowa State will split the squad this weekend with half the team playing in the Drake Invitational in Des Moines, and the other half traveling to Minneapolis to compete in the Gopher Invitational.

“In these two tournaments, we are just looking to break it down and look at our ground stroke games,” Espinosa said. “We have served and we have returned, but we haven't really put a match together yet. When we go out there we are going to be evaluating our ground strokes.”

Despite the new approach, Espinosa has been pleased with the progress of his squad and believe the freshmen have the ability to make an immediate impact.

“I have been impressed by everybody at this point,” he said. “There is no one that really stands out. Certainly, Erin (Karonis) is always good and I think she is playing smarter and she came out more fit. Overall, I think everybody came back with different expectations of what they want to do for the program. They all seem ready to go, even the freshmen. I have been pleasantly surprised that we are training as well as we are.”

The fall work will build toward the spring season, but the Cyclones' final fall exam will come at Western Michigan in November when they are tested by four teams that are currently ranked, including Notre Dame, Indiana, Illinois and DePaul, as well as the host Broncos who have been ranked in the recent past.

In between the first and last weeks of the fall campaign, Iowa State will again split the squad for a pair of tournaments Oct. 21-25. One group will travel to the Jayhawk Invitational in Lawrence, Kan., while others will compete in the ITA Regional Championships in Norman, Okla. It will add one more opportunity for the ISU coaches to evaluate the team's progress.

Espinosa has been pleased so far with the progress of his three freshmen and has seen potential in all three (Jasmine Lee, Ellie Nixon and Jenna Langhorst).

“I think the biggest jump (from high school to Division I tennis) is the amount of unforced errors, and really cleaning up your game,” Espinosa said. “I think players in high school can hit it just as big, but I think the college game is really about consistency. I think that is the biggest difference. Jasmine has done a great job making that adjustment and I think Jenna is getting better at it. Ellie hasn't had a lot of experience at the national level, but she is training really hard. Having the ability to hit with better players everyday has really made her a lot better player.”

If last season is any indication, it is obvious that Espinosa and assistant coach Chris Williams have a unique talent for developing players. With that in mind, the three newcomers have a very optimistic future ahead of them in a Cyclone uniform.

“Our goal for incoming players is to make them better,” Espinosa said. “We have developed a program that proves that their best tennis is ahead of them. Erin Karonis was a three-star recruit when she got here, and she is playing No. 1 at a Big 12 school and being very successful at it. We are taking the right steps.”

Players Mentioned

Erin Karonis

Erin Karonis

Jenna Langhorst

Jasmine Lee

Ellie Nixon

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