University of Memphis Athletics
Hibberd and Wind Off to NCAA Doubles Championship
May 19, 2015 | Women's Tennis
Tandem becoming first in school history to make doubles appearance.
The University of Memphis women's tennis duo of senior Alyssa Hibberd and sophomore Anki Wind departed Monday for the NCAA Doubles Championship, which begins Thursday at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The tandem will be Memphis' first-ever doubles entry in the NCAA Doubles Championship.
"We're just really proud of their accomplishment," Head Coach Hayden Perez said. "For it to be the first time is just huge for the program. It brings a little exposure. We'll get there and so for our recruits and for people we're working on too, for them to see this, that this is possible at Memphis, we hope to make this a regular thing."
It's been a long lay-off for the Memphis tandem. The twosome last competed in the American Athletic Conference Championship back on April 16th, where the team fell 4-3 in the quarterfinal round. The pair focused on their in-the-classroom work following the tournament with final exams and the coaching staff has spent the last two weeks with Hibberd and Wind pointing toward this week's doubles championships.
"Having a break like that can be difficult," Perez said. "We tried to counter that with three straight days of practice matches last week, trying to get them familiar with competition again instead of just drilling. That layout may prove a bit difficult, but I think we're handling it the right way."
"It's been a good three to four weeks before we could go compete again," Hibberd said. "We've just been practicing as much as we can and getting as much doubles practice in with other players. It's been a long time, but hopefully we'll be ready to go."
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Outside of the long layoff, the Memphis coaches are also trying to prepare Hibberd and Wind to make some program history, as the tandem is the first in school history to receive an NCAA Doubles bid. But Perez does not want the duo to focus on the history aspect of the trip.
"It's just another tournament, just another match," Perez said. "If you build it up too much in your mind, you tend, as athletes, to not perform as well. If you prepare every day and you treat practice, practice matches and competition all the same, then your approach will be fine. But if you build it up too much and it's a huge deal, athletes tend to underperform. We've talked about that a lot and we're just going to treat it as another tournament and give it a go."
The tournament will be a reuniting for Hibberd and Wind on the court. The duo started the season together at No. 1 doubles and went 10-2 in the opening half of the dual season. But with the team struggling to win doubles points, Perez was forced to split the tandem to try to get the team doubles points wins in dual matches. That split worked, as Memphis won the doubles point in five of the next six matches.
"We started the season together and got off to a flying start," Hibberd said. "Then we got split up to help the team win the doubles point and now we've played the last couple of matches together and had some good things, so it's a matter of getting back to where we were at the start of the season."
The duo heads in to the NCAA tournament the No. 37 ranked doubles team in the country after going 10-2 at No. 1 in dual season play.
"They both have different strengths," Perez said. "Anki is just really good from the baseline. She has great returns and really sets up Alyssa at the net. Alyssa has great hands and is really good around the net, so they both complement each other in that sense. Both from the game styles they have, and mentally, they are really supportive of one another."
"I think we're pretty excited about it," Wind said. "It has been a really good year for us. We've played some tough opponents and to get this kind of achievement and even go more in to the NCAA is pretty exciting for the program and for us."
