The women’s tennis team will host its yearly ACU Invite tournament starting on Friday and going through Sunday at the Judi and Cecil Eager Tennis Pavilion.

It will be the second tournament of the year for the Wildcats after traveling to San Angelo earlier this month for the ASU Slamfest.

Head Coach Bryan Rainwater described the Angelo State tournament as a “warm-up” for his team.

11 teams, including the Wildcats, will compete in this tournament, including Power 4 teams SMU and Texas Tech. The tournament will also host teams from Conference USA and the Southland Conference.

“This is going to be like, nowhere to hide kind of thing,” Rainwater said. “You’re going to have a dog fight everywhere you’re at or you’re going to play somebody that’s really good.”

The tournament will have three doubles matches and three singles matches across the weekend.

Of the seven members of this year’s team, five are returning from last year, and four are seniors.

Last year, three of the five Wildcats made it to the finals in their flights. Angela Del Campo, senior from Gijon, Spain, was the only one to win her set. Del Campo will be competing in this year’s tournament. Both doubles teams lost in the quarterfinals.

Rainwater said Maria Castano, senior from Gijon, Spain, will miss this tournament due to injury. Castano lost in the semifinals of this tournament last year.

The Wildcats went 6-13 overall and 3-1 in conference play last spring, ending in a loss to Grand Canyon University in the semifinals of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament.

With four seniors on the team, Rainwater said his team knows what to expect in tournaments.

“I feel like we’re a very veteran team and we know what to expect going into this tournament, and our freshmen have kind of learned a little bit from that,” Rainwater said.

After this tournament, the Wildcats will have one tournament, the ITA Texas Women’s Invitational, on Oct. 9, before the WAC tournament starts on Oct. 16.