ABILENE, Texas - Abilene Christian's seven-woman tennis team heads north this weekend to Bloomington, Ind. and the campus of Indiana University for its first competition of the 2014 season – the IU Winter Invitational.
The three-day event runs from Jan. 18-20 and will pit the Wildcats against teams from Marquette, No. 68 Harvard and No. 71 Oregon in addition to the 41st-ranked Hoosiers, who are coming off a NCAA Tournament appearance and 18-10 dual record.
Indiana has three nationally ranked singles players on its roster: No. 73 Katie Klyczek, No. 86 Sophie Garre and No. 118 Gabrielle Rubenstein, while the Crimson claim the invite's lone nationally ranked doubles paring of No. 34 Spencer Liang and Monica Lin.
The Wildcats, which had a solid fall season competing everywhere from Las Cruces to Boise to Memphis, will be led at the top by sisters Micah and
Kaysie Hermsdorf, junior
Brittney Reed and freshman
Erin Walker.
Walker and the Hermsdorf sisters finished their fall tied for the team lead in wins with nine, while Reed and
Micah Hermsdorf turned in a 7-6 doubles record. Walker and
Kaysie Hermsdorf also were met with some success in their first season together, winning five doubles matches, including two at Boise State.
ACU's third doubles team featured senior
Emily Conrad playing alongside freshman
Ansley Boarman and sophomore
Nada Marjanovic. Conrad went 6-6 in singles last fall, while Marjanovic went 4-4 between events hosted by New Mexico State, Memphis and TCU (ITA Regionals).
Micah Hermsdorf - a D-II ITA All-America in 2012 - had one of her best runs of the fall at ITA Regionals as she defeated three straight opponents to reach the consolation quarterfinals against third-seeded Texas Longhorn Pippa Horn, who won their match in three sets, 7-5, 16, 7-6 (2). Earlier in the season, Micah went 3-1 at the Boise State Invitational and reached the back draw finals after defeating players from Montana State and Weber State.
However, the fall season's most talked about victory came during the opening rounds of the Racquet Club Invitational, where Walker knocked off nationally ranked and ninth-seeded Viktoryia Kisialeva of Baylor, 3-6, 6-4 (1-0). The Baylor sophomore would beat Walker in their rematch several weeks later at ITA Regionals, 4-6, 64-, 6-2.
