After kicking off the fall season in impressive fashion at Drake’s Lloyd Stokstad Invitational in Des Moines last month, the tennis team is set to compete in the Wildcat Tournament this weekend in Evanston, Ill.

The tournament boasts an impressive field of 11 teams, including host Northwestern – a perennial power that is often ranked in the top 10 nationally.

The three-day tournament will comprise four singles flight brackets and two doubles flight brackets. Iowa State is the lone representative from the Big 12 Conference competing in the tournament.

“It’s going to be a good equivalent to the environment of what we’re going to face in the spring,” said coach Michele Conlon, “so this tournament will give us a good taste of competition.”

The team is hoping to build on the successes it had at Drake last month, in which it took two of the three titles available. Senior Jill Palen and sophomore Kara Hickey captured the doubles title, and freshman Alyssa Palen remained undefeated as she went 4-0 to take home the title in the flight B singles bracket.

“I was very proud of Alyssa to come in as a freshman and win one of the brackets,” Conlon said. “She worked through a couple of three-set matches and showed a lot of mental toughness closing those out.”

The tournaments are a part of a 10-week fall season for the team that ends in late October, giving the team a two-month break before the 14-week NCAA spring season begins in mid-January. The players work on their games individually in November and December before team practice for the spring season begins the first week of spring term classes.

“The fall season is a little different in that it also gives players the opportunity – because it’s not a team environment – to work on things for their game,” Conlon said.

“So if somebody is working on getting to the net a little more or adding some different tools into their game and utilizing them in match play, now is an opportunity for them to do that.”

Although Conlon said they all expect to win heading into the tournament, she knows that the most important part of this fall season is giving the players a chance to work on improving themselves as much as possible before the spring season begins.

“I’m equally concerned about developing their games and improving them as we are winning the matches,” she said.

Next weekend the Cyclones will travel to Columbia for the Missouri Tournament before closing the fall season out at regionals in Tulsa, Okla., Oct. 18 to 22.