The Warhawks tennis team made their first appearance of the fall on the hard court last weekend at the Big Easy Tennis Classic, hosted by the University of New Orleans in New Orleans. The team performed well and advanced to the finals on singles draw and one doubles draw.

The fall portion of the tennis schedule is comprised of individual play only. Overall team scores are not combined to determine a winner. ULM will be one player short of the six person complete roster until the spring.

Coach Terrence De Jongh has experienced success in his seven year coaching career at ULM.

“Expectations are high. We’ve always done well in the last few years,” said De Jongh.  “We’ve been nationally ranked. We’ve gotten all the way to the quarters and semifinals of the conference. Looking ahead for this year, we want to get in the final”

Senior Medy Blankvoort, is looked at as being the team leader for this season. Last season she was awarded with All-Sun Belt Conference honors as well as a 2011-2012 Sun Belt Commissioner’s award. In the spring, she boasted a record of 16-2 and had the highest winning percentage on the team.

“This is pretty much the season where we see where all of the girls are at individually,” said Blankvoort. “With the five girls that we have, I think that the prospects are looking good. We just need to keep working hard. We can be better. I know that.”

Blanvoort and fellow teammate, Justyna Krol, were invited this past weekend to participate in the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, California.

They will be competing together as a doubles duo. This will be the first time since 2010 that ULM has sent anyone to the prestigious tournament.

On the home front, the Warhawks have newly refurbished courts. The outer part of the court is gold with the playing surface in maroon.

“It looks so much nicer,” said Blankvoort.

De Jongh said that the team will add three more freshmen in the spring to fill out the roster for team play. The team’s next tournament will be at the ULL Invitational in Lafayette.

Fall play continues through late October, assuming that the team is playing in the ITA Regionals.  The last scheduled tournament is the Georgia State Southern Shootout in Atlanta, Georgia.