It wasn’t just their opponents that the women’s tennis team had to battle last weekend at the Freeman Invitational in Las Vegas. With temperatures barely above freezing, the weather conditions were so bad that the team canceled its remaining matches after the opening day on Friday.

“We didn’t play nearly as much as we would have liked,” coach Lele Forood explained. “The weather just wasn’t accommodating.”

In the limited action in Las Vegas, however, the team excelled. In the singles’ portion of the draw, sophomore Jessica Nguyen, freshman Lindsay Burdette and seniors Anne Yelsey and Theresa Logar all netted victories in their singles matches.

The Stanford doubles squads of Burdette and Nguyen and Yelsey and Durkin also had little trouble with their competition, both winning handily against players from Florida and Oregon, respectively.

But ultimately, the tournament was cut short due to the cold weather and wind in the Nevada desert.

“It was a little bit frustrating because we were all raring and ready to go,” Burdette said. “But it makes the next two weeks of practice that much more important.”

While five of the Cardinal were in Las Vegas for the weekend, the other three (sophomore Megan Doheny and juniors Celia Durkin and Lejla Hodzic) were competing at the National Collegiate Tennis Classic (NCTC) in Indian Wells, Calif.

Deason had the best run of the three, reaching the quarterfinals of the tournament before falling to USC’s number one player, Lindsey Nelson.

The match was hard-fought and went to three sets. After winning the first set 6-1, Deason dropped the second by the same score. Nelson, the eventual tournament champion, captured the match with a score of 6-3 in the final, decisive set.

“Whitney came out and played a great first set,” assistant coach Frankie Brennan said. “I thought she did a very good job of competing to keep Lindsey off balance. It was a very gutsy performance from Whitney.”

As Brennan later described it, Deason was eventually overpowered by the sheer size of Nelson, who stands at 6-foot-1.

Hodzic and Doheny, also competing at the NCTC Classic, didn’t fare as well. Doheny lost her matches against players from Texas and Baylor, although both the matches were close.

“It came down to more tennis experience,” said Brennan of Doheny’s performance. “Megan hasn’t had an opportunity to play as much.”

Hodzic also had trouble, losing both of her matches to opponents from Northwestern and Texas.

“I still think we’re a bit behind schedule from last year’s team as we look at the indoors,” Brennan said. “But I still think we’ll be okay as we go forward.”