The 26th edition of the Ellen Waters Memorial Junior Championship Major Zone Tennis Tournament is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Tyler.

More than 347 players are expected to compete, tournament director Chris Singer said.

The host location is at Faulkner Tennis Center. Other locations include Tyler Junior College’s JoAnn Medlock Murphy Tennis Center and Louise Brookshire Famly Tennis Center; UT Tyler’s Summers Tennis Center, All Saints’ Brookshire Tennis Courts, Hollytree Country Club and Tyler Tennis & Swim Club.

The tournament, formerly the Rose Festival Junior Tennis Open, was renamed in 1990 for not only an outstanding tennis player but also an upstanding person, former tournament director Robert Rhodes stated. She was as graceful on the court as off, he said.

Miss Waters was a former Robert E. Lee High School tennis player who died in an automobile accident in 1990.

Miss Waters, the daughter of Paul and Carolyn Waters of Tyler, played tennis at Lee from 1978 until 1980 and was a member of the Tyler Tennis & Swim Club. She was ranked as high as No. 17 in the state in singles and was No. 5 in doubles with partner Alice Blackwell of Beaumont.

She won a district and regional championship with doubles partner Judy Kniffen in 1979 and earned a trip to the state tournament in Austin.

Miss Waters went on to graduate from Baylor University (1984) and the University of Texas School of Law in 1988. She practiced law in California and later in Dallas.

The tournament was named for Miss Waters for her high character due in part, many felt, to her involvement in junior tennis, Rhodes said.