With a 30-11 record in doubles at the Gopher Invitational last weekend, the ISU tennis team is is ready to improve on those numbers at the South Dakota Invitational this weekend.

The South Dakota Invitational is an all-doubles tournament. The team will also bring only four of its nine players to the competition instead of everyone, as they did at the last invitational.

ISU tennis coach Armando Espinosa will be taking freshmen Natalie Phippen and Talisa Merchiers, sophomore Alejandra Galvis and junior Caroline Hauge Andersen. He has pairings in mind to start off the weekend, but can switch the doubles after Friday if he chooses.

“We’re going to start off with Alejandra and Caroline together and Natalie and Talisa,” Espinosa said. “We may switch it around to see where the chemistry is.”

The team is coming off a rough week full of injuries, but Phippen, Andersen, Merchiers and Galvis are excited to play this weekend.

Galvis and Andersen played doubles together at the Gopher Invitational and won the draw, so both of them are looking forward to this pairing. The two were battling some injuries last week but should be ready to play come Friday.

“I had an abdominal strain in the last tournament, so I didn’t practice at all last week,” Galvis said.

Anderson said she also dealt with injury problems, saying she “pulled a lot of muscles” at the Gopher Invitational. 

Anna Garcia has been out for a couple weeks now due to a back injury and she continues to battle the injury this week.

“She practiced Saturday, but had a little setback so she’s back in the training room again,” Espinosa said.

Merchiers said she has been feeling great and is ready to work with Phippen to improve their doubles game.

“My goal is to make the doubles lineup this year,” Merchiers said. “I’m going to be less scared, try to go in between the shots and be more aggressive.”

This week’s practice will focus on doubles and being more comfortable in that atmosphere, especially for Phippen, Merchiers, Galvis and Andersen for the upcoming tournament.

The players said they are motivated to play even harder than in the Gopher Invitational and expect to see better results from this competition.

Iowa State will be competing against the North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska-Omaha and Augustana College this weekend. 

The rackets start swinging on Friday when Galvis and Andersen take on Molly Matricardi and Michelle Lo from Nebraska-Omaha, and Merchiers and Phippen play Dragana Brankovic and Rymma Maslova from South Dakota.