Throughout the fall, the Georgetown men’s and women’s tennis teams played a variety of warmup and individual tournaments in order to gear up for the spring season. The Hoyas will begin that in earnest today, as they head to Richmond to play VCU and Campbell in the VCU 4+1 Invitational tournament.

Both Georgetown teams are coming off strong fall performances. The women’s team, led by senior Vicky Sekely, juniors Kelly Comolli and Madeline Jaeger and sophomore Sophie Panarese experienced success in early-season tournaments and finished the fall season fairly strongly, as Comolli reached the round of 32 at the ITA Atlantic Regionals in October while Comolli and Sekely reached the round of 16 in the doubles tournament.

The men’s team also impressed in the fall, hosting and dominating the Hoya Classic thanks in part to senior captain Charlie Caris, who won both the singles and doubles titles — junior partner Casey Distaso. The men also beat Penn in a dual match, marking the first time that Georgetown has ever defeated an Ivy League school.

At the ITA regionals, Caris, graduate student Reese Milner and sophomore Shane Korber all advanced past the first round before being downed in the round of 64.

After a long break, the VCU tournament gives the Hoyas a much-needed opportunity to play competitively and to prepare for the meat of the schedule from February to April. The season will culminate in the Big East tournament which begins on April 18 if the Hoyas can earn berths. Under head coach Gordie Ernst, the men’s team has reached seven consecutive conference tournaments while the women’s team has reached the tournament twice in the past three seasons. The individual and team NCAA Championships are played in May.

The VCU match provides a difficult challenge for both Georgetown teams, as the Rams are a traditionally strong program. Three players from VCU’s men’s team reached the quarterfinals of the ITA Regionals, while one women’s player matched this feat. The VCU men’s team has reached the NCAA tournament in 18 times of the last 19 years.

Georgetown’s men’s team will also be hard-pressed to come out on top against a Campbell team that finished with great results in singles and doubles in the ITA Carolinas Regionals. However, the Campbell women represent much less of a challenge to the Georgetown women’s team.

The women will face VCU at 11 a.m. before facing Campbell at 3 p.m., while the men will play Campbell at 1 p.m. and VCU at 5 p.m.