BYU Women's Tennis Team to Host Regional Team Championship

PROVO -- By claiming the first place title in the ITA Central Regional Championship last weekend, the BYU women's tennis team will host the 2003 ITA Regional Team Championship at the Eccles Center in Salt Lake City Saturday Nov. 1.

The four teams included in the tournament are second-seeded New Mexico, third-seeded Oklahoma and No. 4 seed Denver.

The winner of this week's championship will get the nod to represent the Central Region at the National Indoor Championships to be held in Madison, Wis.

Doubles Play will begin Saturday at 9 a.m. as BYU faces Denver followed by the New Mexico-Oklahoma match-up. Play will follow the regular dual match format. All doubles matches and the final singles match will have a chair umpire present.

Head coach Craig Manning is very optimistic of the tournament this week, despite the difficulty of teams competing.

"I'm expecting all of the matches to be very close," Manning said. "Our girls have worked hard and we had a great showing last week in Regionals. I'm confident that if we stay humble and play hard, we will do just as well this week."

Teams will arrive Friday afternoon and begin practice that same evening. The first two matches should be finished by 3 p.m. Saturday to give the finalists enough time to rest and get something to eat prior to the final match to be played at 6 p.m.

The overall schedule for Saturday's event will go as follows: 8-9 a.m. BYU and Denver will warm-up followed by 9 a.m. to Noon match play. From Noon to 1 p.m. New Mexico and Oklahoma teams will warm up followed by match play from 1-3 p.m. The final match will begin at 6 p.m. and is expected to last up to two hours.