SMU’s Natalia Bubien returns the ball during a match against the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. (james Bilowus)

The women’s tennis team will travel to Waco to participate in the seventh annual H-E-B Invitational. The tournament will take place over the entire weekend, featuring both singles and doubles play.

The field is crowded with a large number of teams from all over the country. Players in the tournament represent Baylor, Abilene Christian, Army, Houston, Kentucky, Lamar, Louisiana-Lafayette, North Texas, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Sam Houston State, South Alabama, Tarleton State, TCU and UT-San Antonio.

There are nearly 100 players in the entire tournament playing in all of the events. There are 32 players singles draws. They are broken down into three different color groups: green (A), gold (B) and white (C).

In the doubles field, there are three 16-team draws. SMU will participate in both singles and doubles play over the weekend.

In men’s tennis, some of the Mustangs are participating in pre-qualifying action for the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tournament. Since there were so many entries into the tournament this year, the round of pre-qualifying will allow multiple teams to compete for spots within the tournament.

Pre-qualifying spots were allotted according to the tennis teams final 2007 ranking. SMU was awarded five pre-qualifying spots this year. Mustangs Darren Walsh, Dawid Kuczer, Robert Fahgen, Adolfo Solares and Adham El-Efendi are participating in this weekend’s pre-qualifying tournament for singles. There is no comprable tournament for doubles.

For the doubles portion of the tournament, which will take place next weekend, the team of Alex Skrypko and Robert Fahgen have already been placed in the qualifying bracket.

Placing multiple players in the tournament would boost SMU’s national stature and bode well for the rest of the fall season. The task will be daunting, considering the field includes over 100 players.