Oct. 19, 2004

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State men's and women's tennis teams play their final preseason tournament of the year as they head to the Wilson Regional Invitational this weekend. The men will compete in Las Vegas, Nev. and the women will travel to Tulsa, Okla., Wednesday, Oct. 20 through Sunday, Oct. 24.

The men will compete against 16 collegiate teams. The ITA Regional Championship is in its eight year at the Fertitta Tennis Complex at UNLV.

"It's nice to go to a tournament and get a little more exposure with players we don't normally see," said USU head coach Christian Wright. "Hopefully we'll get some good matches in."

The women are only sending three players to Tulsa where over 30 teams will be competing. "I wish we could have taken the whole team, but most teams are limited to a couple of players," said Wright.

Jill Smith will be competing in the qualifying singles division while teammate Lindsey Bennion will compete in the main draw. Bennion and Carolyn Stephens will team to compete in the doubles play.

Junior Hannes Schenk and sophomore Lukas Bouton are the only two returning men who competed at the invitational last year. This year the entire team will be competing at the tournament, with the execption of injured player Jonas Tyden.

Matches will begin Wednesday at 9 a.m. with the semifinals of both singles and doubles coming on Saturday and the finals on Sunday. There will be no team scoring at this event.