Cyclones Wrap Up Fall Season in Florida

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State tennis team will wrap up the fall season with its third and final tournament in Daytona, Florida, this weekend. The Cyclones will be competing in the second annual Juan Varon Wildcat Invitational held by Bethune-Cookman University.

The tournament will be played on the clay courts of Daytona Beach's Florida Tennis Center.

For the women's bracket, the field includes Bethune-Cookman, Florida A&M, UCF, Florida Atlantic, St. Leo, Embry-Riddle, Warner, Rollins, Florida Tech, Palm Beach Atlantic, Flagler, St. Petersburg College, Hillsborough College, Northwood, Armstrong Atlantic State, Barry and Eckerd.

The Cyclones will look to carry momentum from last weekend's tournament in Des Moines down to beautiful Daytona Beach.

Head coach Armando Espinosa hopes the strong play will continue.

“I was very happy with how we performed last weekend," Espinosa said. "We left some matches out there that could have been won, but that is fine. I like where we are."

Despite losing some matches that could have been won, the second tournament for the Cyclones was a success.

Especially for one athlete in particular.

Senior Anna Kuuttila has a 7-1 record this fall following her perfect record last weekend.

Espinosa has been happily surprised with the senior's play.

“Kuuttila has been a pleasant surprise," Espinosa said. "I want to see her next weekend against even better competition along with seeing our doubles continuing to improve."

The pairing of Samantha Budai and Liza Buss finished last weekend undefeated in their doubles matches.

This weekend's clay surface could pose an issue for some athletes, but Espinosa believes the change should not affect the team.

“Clay is not something completely new to our girls. There are some that have played on it, but there is also some that never had,” Espinosa said. “We're going to be in Florida on the clay surface so it is going to be a lot slower, but it should be fine.”

The clay surface will hopefully act as a solid learning lesson that will help the Cyclone tennis team for later in the season.

“The clay will help us with our shot tolerance," Espinosa said. "There will be longer rallies than we are used to and that is one reason we decided to go to this tournament."

Play begins on Friday at noon, and concludes Sunday afternoon.