The ISU tennis team will be traveling to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regionals with Samantha Budai, Ksenia Pronina and Ana Gasparovic as its participants.

Pronina already has qualified for the event; however, Budai and Gasparovic will have to compete for qualification. In order to qualify, they will have to win two play-in matches.

For the regionals, teams from across the nation send their best players, which might make this weekend’s competition harder. 

ISU coach Armando Espinosa feels this will help the team see what level it will need to compete at for the spring season.

“In terms of improving, we just want them to see the play that they are going to see in the spring,” Espinosa said. “We want them to be ready for harder competition for later on.”

Espinosa thinks his team is ready for this weekend and that each player will bring an advantage over their opponents.

“Ksenia has confidence. She has only lost one match during this whole preseason, if you will,” Espinosa said of Iowa State’s fall campaign. “Sammy doesn’t know any better. She has never seen a regional so it will be good for her to see that level. And Ana worked really hard over the summer so it is deserving for her to go.”

Budai, a freshman, is nervous and excited at the same time about going to the event this weekend.

“I am most excited just to be able to compete at a higher level, and that is kind of the most nervous thing as well,” Budai said. “It is going to be a whole new level of tennis that I haven’t been used to in juniors, so it should be a good experience.”

At practice this week, Budai has been working on her consistency as well as making smarter decisions, namely “picking better decision-making shots and not going for so much,” she said.

Iowa State will participate in the event in Norman, Okla., which will last from Thursday until next Tuesday.