The Bearkat women’s tennis team hosted the Sam Houston State invitational on Saturday and Sunday to kick off the team’s fall schedule.Michael Hunt, SHSU tennis coach, said he was happy with the outcome of the tournament.”We were all pretty happy with our plays in the first tournament of the season,” Hunt said. “Everyone is a little rusty overall, but we were happy with every thing.” Other teams attending the invitational were Centenary, Lamar, North Texas, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton State and Lee College.Freshman Tara Shelander’s made her first appearance in the singles competition with SHSU as she defeated SFA’s Sandra Wolfe, 6-4 and 6-3, in the first round, but lost to North Texas after a tie-breaker in the quarterfinals.”We were really pleased with (Shelander),” Hunt said. “It was her first tournament and she did not play like a freshman; she played like she had been doing this awhile.”Fatimma-Zahra Benhoubker defeated SFA, 6-1 and 6-2, but also lost to North Texas in the quarterfinal after a tiebreaker.Mounia Hassib, sophomore, played for the Bearkat women’s tennis team last season and struggled at the invitational with a hurt ankle.Hassib lost the first round to Anja Schmidt of Centenary, but defeated Medeja Egic from Lee College, 6-1 and 6-4, in the consolation. “(Hassib) is on a bad ankle right now and did not play up to her ability,” said Hunt. “When she gets better, her game will improve.”Erika Rudich defeated Tarleton, 6-1 and 6-0, in the first round of the singles. Rudich also defeated Centenary, 6-0 and 6-0.Jennifer Pechal beat Centenary, 6-1 and 7-6, in the first round, but lost to Lamar in the quarterfinals.Shaneen Ludwig defeated Centenary in the consolation round, but lost to SFA during the semifinals, 6-4 and 6-3.For the doubles match, Hassib and Benboubker defeated Lee College 8-2 in the first round and North Texas 8-6 in the quarterfinals.Rudich and Shelander kept up the defeats for the doubles by taking over Centenary 8-2 in the first round and defeating SFA 8-2 in the quarterfinals.Ludwig and Pechal defeated Lamar 8-6 in the doubles first round, but lost to Lee College 8-1 in the quarterfinals.”It was the opening games of the year and we think we had a good start, but we hope to do better at the tournament coming up this weekend,” Hunt said.The Bearkats will travel to Fort Worth on Friday and Saturday for an all day TCU invitational.