Oct. 22, 2009

RUSTON, La. - With eight of the 10 teams nationally ranked, Louisiana Tech will have its biggest challenge of the season at the Greater Ozark Invitational on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

"We are excited about going to this tournament," head coach Shawn Jackson said. "It gives us a chance to see where we rank among some of the nation's best. It is a good chance for the girls to be competitive and see what they can do."

They will be taking on some of the nation's best teams including No. 1-ranked Nebraska, No. 2 Vanderbilt, No. 4 Central Missouri, No. 7 Arkansas State, No. 12 Minnesota State-Mankato, No. 14 Southern, No. 17 Elmhurst and No. 20 Valparaiso. Southern and Tech are the only teams competing without a national ranking.

Last season, the Lady Techsters defeated the eventual National Champion Nebraska and No. 5-ranked Arkansas State at the Capital City Classic.

Tech (6-2) is coming off a season opening win at the Bossier City Classic on Oct. 18. The win came off of a strong effort from the three freshmen including Elizabeth Eldredge who hit key strikes in the final frames to force a double tiebreaker and eventually beat out Stephen F. Austin for the title.

"This will be a better reality check for where we are at and that is why we are going to this tournament," Jackson said. "It will give us a chance to evaluate where we are at so we can go into the next tournament and make improvements. I think the girls have been practicing better and if we do good or not so good this weekend, they will still work hard because they want to be one of those top teams and this is a chance to see how those teams operate and what they need to do to get to that level."

Play from Springfield, Mo. on Friday will be a Baker format for seeding and will start at 1 p.m. Saturday will be a team format starting at 12:40 p.m. Sunday will be a Baker match play beginning at 8:30 a.m.