The GophersâÄô womenâÄôs tennis team left room for improvement after this weekendâÄôs Gopher Invitational. Freshman Julia Courter took second place in the tier-two singles bracket.

Together, senior Magdalena Wiecha and junior Alexa Palen took third place in the tier-one doubles bracket. The rest of the team did not place.

âÄúWe certainly have the capability to do better,âÄù head coach Tyler Thompson said.

He was not hung up on the results of the tournament, though, because he said the tournament was merely a learning opportunity. Tennis is a spring sport, but the team will have tournaments peppered throughout the fall.

Each player will now evaluate and create a blueprint of themselves as individual players, Thompson said.

Thompson plans to focus more on doubles, teaching the fundamentals of the game of doubles format, as it differs from singles.

He also said parts of the team struggled with attentiveness. HeâÄôs going to work with some of the younger players to get them to focus during teammatesâÄô matches.

Courter impressed this weekend in her college debut. Thompson said he was happy with her sense of competitiveness and energy.

Those qualities helped Saturday afternoon when she faced a very vocal opponent who questioned several of CourterâÄôs calls and made several comments that were intended to get inside CourterâÄôs head.

Courter easily won that match and said she remains positive by staying confident in herself as a player.

Courter added that she needs to work on her serve. But she was happy with her results this weekend, and was very happy to be on the court playing college tennis.

Freshman Aria Lambert also stepped into her first college tennis match this weekend. While she did not rank, she won her first match. Lambert said she was nervous to see her first shot at college competition.

Her focus this year will be improving her aggressiveness and learning to control each point, she said.

Thompson said he was very impressed with junior Doron MuravnikâÄôs play this weekend. She was one of the lead singles players for the team last season.

The team is very young and has a lot to learn before the spring season âÄî seven of the teamâÄôs 10 players are underclassmen.