Issue date: 3/6/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jennifer Hietpas (Left to right) Pat Deprey, father of sophomore women's tennis player Liz Deprey play in the third annual fundraising tournament for the men's and women's tennis teams at noon on Saturday in the YMCA Tennis Center.

On Saturday, the men's and women's UW-Eau Claire tennis teams hosted a Mixed Doubles Fundraiser at the YMCA Tennis Center to raise money for the team's athletic budgets.

Coaches Tom Gillman and Craig Monson of the men's and women's teams, respectively, said the tournament went very smoothly.

Participants paid $25 to compete, which included a T-shirt for registering and two guaranteed matches.

The entry fees, coupled with the money raised by a silent auction, considerably helped boost the athletic budget's for both teams. In total the events raised approximately $2,000 for the tennis programs.

"The money goes right toward the men's and women's tennis programs to help support our traveling and playing in matches," Monson said.

Participants ranged from current Eau Claire students, Eau Claire alumni, current university players and members of their family and others from the community not associated with the university. Players registered with a partner of their choice or could request to play with a university player.

"A lot of the players from the Eau Claire teams are matched up with people in the community that they don't know," junior Jeff Peterson said.

"So it definitely makes awareness for the tennis team with those people," he said.

Monson spoke about the benefits hosting a fundraiser has on the school's tennis teams and university community as a whole.

"A lot of the players play with their parents or siblings," he said. "The alumni come back so it reconnects the alumni with the university."

Thirty-nine teams competed in two different levels of play, depending on the skill level of the doubles team.

The tournament kicked off at noon and ran until 10 p.m. Andrea Muellner, a former Blugold player and her partner Chee Lee, won the Level I competition. The team of Aaron Nordenskjold, a junior on the men's team, and Rose Alleva were victorious in the Level II flight of play.

Junior captain of the women's team Laura Geissler said that there is a difference in approaching a fundraising match and a competitive match against other universities.

"The players take it less seriously and try to have fun," she said.

In the future, Gillman said he expects the number of entrants to be capped at 32 teams and the tournament entry fee to be raised to $30 per player, including Blugold tennis players.

"We feel these moves will help us financially," Gillman said, "and will help the smooth running of the tourney."

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