Sept. 11, 2014

Tournament Website

DALLAS (SMU) - The SMU women's tennis team will open its fall tournament season this Friday at the Midland Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational in Midland, Texas, on Friday. The three-day event, hosted by the Midland Racquet Club, will conclude on Sunday.

The tournament will feature student-athletes from 19 of the top collegiate tennis programs. SMU will be one of twelve Texas schools participating in the event.

Five student-athletes will represent the Mustangs at the invitational. Sophomore Dasha Sharapova landed the seventh overall seed and junior Hristina Dishkova is seeded 15th. Junior Yana Erkeeva, freshman Maxine Schmidt and senior Holly Verner will be the other two Mustangs competing in the event.

Pepperdine's Lorraine Guillermo won the tournament in 2013 and is seeded first this year.

SMU is coached by Kati Gyulai, who is entering her fourth season as head coach. The Mustangs return their entire roster from a year ago and have added Schmidt. In 2014, SMU went 10-12, including a 2-3 mark in the conference.

Sharapova registered an 18-12 record in singles in her first season on the Hilltop and landed on the American Athletic Conference all-conference team for her efforts.

Erkeeva and Dishkova also had impressive campaigns in 2014. Erkeeva tallied a 20-9 record in singles, while Dishkova went 20-15.

The Mustangs will also have two duos competing in the doubles draw. Sharapova and Schmidt will team up along with Dishkova and Verner. The team of Dishkova and Verner went 13-5 in 2013.

For updates, draws and other information, visit the tournament website here.