Pronina Ready for 2014 Gopher Invitational

AMES, Iowa- The Iowa State tennis team will begin its eighth season with head coach Armando Espinosa this Friday at the Gopher Invitational in Minneapolis. The tournament, to be played at the University of Minnesota's indoor-outdoor facility, will be the first of four fall contests for the Cyclones.

Espinosa has high hopes for the tournament in kicking off the fall season for the team, especially because of a new tournament format that will allow for new doubles pairs each day.

“More than anything for the players, they should have the mentality that every spot in doubles is open and just kind of see where the chemistry is with whoever plays with each other,” Espinosa said. “Having the ability to change the doubles [pairs] is going to be a huge thing for us because when you play the fall and you only play one tournament and you have to play the entire weekend together and then you only have two more tournaments to try different combinations, it just doesn't make much sense, so I am really looking forward to being able to change.”

Last year at the Gopher Invitational, Ksenia Pronina brought home a second-place finish for a young Cyclone team, after losing to Minnesota's Tereza Brichacova in a third-set tiebreak.

Heading into her final year at Iowa State, the senior has one wish: to not get injured.

“Hopefully I can be injury-free so I can play every match,” Pronina said. “Every year I just hope to improve from the past season and improve on the things that haven't worked before in previous years.”

Pronina, a Duesseldorf, Germany, native, played the entirety of the 2014 spring season at the No. 1 singles slot, finishing 19-17 overall, and has tallied 45 career singles wins with the Cyclones.

She plays aggressively and passionately, crediting her main motivation in tennis to her competitive nature.

“It's a very competitive sport,” Pronina said. “It's just one against one or two against two, and I've just always had the drive to get better and be better than my opponents.”

Espinosa agrees that Pronina has worked hard to evolve as a player.

“The biggest thing that she's really worked hard on is her fitness level,” Espinosa said. “She's done a great job with that. If she can play like she practices, then we're going to have a tremendous player in her, but that's going to be the biggest hurdle that she's going to have to cross.”

Still, Pronina knows that leadership is a big factor on and off the courts, and her teammates are a driving force in her tennis success.

“We push each other at practice,” Pronina said. “The [new players] can come to us with questions and we try to help them out as much as possible in terms of practice and intensity and just telling them how things go.”

Returning to this weekend's invitational, Pronina's focus is on seeing results of her hard work.

“It's the first match since the end of April and I've been here and worked during the summer,” she said. “I just hope to see those things I've been working on in practice, that I can put them in a match and hopefully get wins, but also just see that I've improved.”

Play will begin with doubles matches at Minnesota's Baseline Tennis Center this Friday at 9 a.m., with 13 teams set to compete. Draws will be announced later today.