Tennis anyone?

Photos and Story
By Caroline Limuti
Daily Forty-Niner

This year, like last year, only two women showed up to try out for the Cal State Long Beach women's tennis team. Their trials lasted 45 minutes, while they played practice matches against current team members Melissa Hlebasko and Anne-Marie Lunde.  

By the end of the tryouts, Coach Jennifer Hilt added Stephanie Reynolds to this year's team.

What Hilt was looking for during tryouts, she said, was "someone who had a fairly high ability level with room to improve."

Team hopefuls Stephanie Reynolds,above in black, and Meghan Hosey, fill out forms before tryouts. Below, Hosey plays match against Lunde. 

"There have been years that I haven't taken any [from tryouts]," Hilt said. "Stephanie was a better player than I expected to see Ö so we're going to have 11."

With an odd number of players on the team, Hilt will have to do some maneuvering as far as doubles play goes. One solution she has created is to rotate three players for doubles matches, giving each of them more play time.

The tennis team, which includes players from Russia, Korea, England and the United States, starts its regular season January 18 at USC. Hilt's goal is to win a Big West Title and earn an automatic place in regionals this spring.