"They [Willette and Dvorak] were doing all the right things," Graham said, "They kept the balls at our feet and put away all our floaters."

The other doubles teams did not fare as well over the weekend, however, and doubles play will be a focus for the team going into the October 14-16 ITA Eastern Regional Tournament.

"The doubles matches showed us that some of our combinations may not be the right ones," Granat said. Granat and partner Such lost their first round match in the second doubles flight.

Even with some weaknesses at its doubles positions, the Crimson proved over the weekend that it could play with the elite of women's collegiate tennis. Both Tennessee and Notre Dame figure to be in the top 15 by season's end.

"It was a very encouraging weekend," Granat said. "Almost all the individual matchups we had with Notre Dame and Tennessee were either close or we won."

"It was a really good tune-up for us," Graham said. "We competed really hard, and we also got a chance to see what we should work on."

"We're going to be really good this year," Roiter said.

After the weekend's performances, the optimism in the women's tennis locker room is not unfounded.

Superior talent, depth and leadership could very well earn the Crimson an invitation to the NCAA tournament next spring and may be its own spot in the women's tennis elite.