The Notre Dame women's tennis team has its plate full this weekend as Michelle Dasso and Becky Varnum travel to Dallas to compete in the National Rolex Indoor Championships and the rest of the women stay home to take on Illinois State and Western Michigan.

The Irish are looking to perform well after a difficult tournament in Florida last week, where Dasso and Varnum lost in the early rounds.

The team wants to put the losses behind them but it still has to come out and play well this weekend

"I don't think that we really played badly," said head coach Jay Louderback. "They were all really good teams and we played against some good players and did well. I told the team to not even worry about last weekend because it was such a tough tournament."

Dasso and Varnum hope to get back to their winning ways this weekend as they both head down to Dallas. Dasso is participating in both singles and doubles and is ranked third in the singles bracket. Varnum will be joining her for the doubles and they hope to make up for a second round loss in Florida.

Since it is a national tournament the pair will be taking on some tough competition but they both have high hopes for victory.

"Both can do really well I think," said Louderback. "Michelle and Becky

didn't play very well outdoors [last week] and playing indoors this week

will help out a lot."

While All-American Dasso and Varnum are in Dallas, the rest of the team

will remain in South Bend to go up against Illinois State and Western Michigan in dual matches.

With the top players out, the Irish will get a chance to show off some of their younger and less experienced players and have some players compete up a higher level than they normally do.

It is still to be decided who will play in the one and two positions vacated by Dasso and Varnum but Louderback thinks that it will be good for the team to compete without their two top players.

"This will give our girls a chance to play higher, whoever is one or two will really have to play well," said Louderback. "Things should be okay. It will be interesting but I am very confident in our play."

One thing that Louderback has reason to be confident about is the recent play of Kimberly Guy. After an impressive performance against Duke she went out last week and blew away the competition in Florida by going undefeated and winning the Flight-B singles.

"She played very well the whole weekend," said Louderback. "She's gotten older and more mature and has improved her game a lot. In the past she has played well but not consistently, last weekend she played four great matches in a row and she will be a big key for us this weekend."

The Irish will take on Illinois State on Sunday during the morning and Western Michigan in the afternoon.

• Saint Mary's eliminates track and field program
  
• No. 1 Notre Dame gets brief scare from Providence
  
• Dasso, Varnum hit road, Irish look to make racket at home