Western Kentucky will gear up for its second outing on the road this fall, as the women’s tennis squad travels to West Lafayette, Ind., to take on the host Purdue along with 10 other teams in the Purdue Women’s Fall Invite at Schwartz Tennis Center on Friday through Sunday. 

Entering the weekend, the Lady Toppers have some momentum coming off a tournament-best 20-win performance in Evansville, Ind., at the Evansville Metro Collegiate Invitational. Led by freshman Lisa Friess, who earned five victories in singles and doubles combined, the Red and White outplayed the other seven teams competing by having five players in the championship round of their flights.

Junior Violetta Shatalova posted a 4-2 record combined in the fall-opener last weekend. Shatalova was happy with her performance at the inaugural tournament.

“I would give myself a B grade because it was not excellent, but it was good and I still have some stuff to work on,” Shatalova said in a news release. “We still have a few more months before the spring season. We understand our mistakes, our weaknesses, and we already know how we should work; it comes down to us executing in matches.”

Purdue will be playing for the first time this season as they are led by tenth-year head coach Laura Glitz who boasts a 117-90 dual record with the Boilermakers.

Other teams competing in the invite are Power Five programs: Illinois, Louisville and Michigan State; Group of Five’s Bowling Green State, Eastern Michigan, Miami (OH) and Northern Illinois; with Eastern Kentucky, Lipscomb and Xavier rounding out the field.

Tournament format will feature 12 teams in flight competition starting at 8 a.m. CT with doubles followed by singles action at 11 a.m. CT each of the three days at the tournament.