| SPORTS
| SEPTEMBER 16, 2005
Tennis Preview
Tennis Tenacity
After overcoming last season’s
challenges, teams aim for strong return
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| The Shorthorn: Kaci Cantrell |
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By Kevin
Bueker
The Shorthorn Sports Editor
For a program growing accustomed to winning, last year wasn’t
good enough.
The men’s and women’s tennis teams went 15-1 in the
Southland Conference, racked up several postseason honors and had
a doubles team advance to the NCAA tournament. But head coach Christian
Wassmer said there will be improvement.
“We’re quite a bit stronger this year,” he said.
The Mavs will have their first chance to show it when the women
open the season at the Baylor Invitational today. Wassmer is taking
only four singles players with him to the tournament and said he
isn’t expecting a lot because the team had less than one week
of practice.
“Tennis-wise, I don’t think we’re ready,”
junior Monika Peciulionyte said. “We’re not expecting
anything big, but we’re going to have fun and do as good as
we can.”
Peciulionyte, who has recovered from an injury that slowed her last
year, is expected to anchor the team, which is seeking its seventh
championship in eight years.
The women finished 14-9 overall and a perfect 10-0 in the SLC, improving
their conference record under Wassmer to 58-2, despite major problems
with injuries.
“We overachieved with us not having all the girls healthy
and able to play,” Wassmer said. “We had an extremely
successful season with all the things we had to go through.”
With the transfer of Pavla Masterova, conference player and freshman
of the year, the team will rely heavily on senior captain Anete
Rozkaine to provide leadership to a young squad.
Klara Jagosova, from the Czech Republic, and Marisa Brown, who transferred
from Tyler Junior College, are the team’s only newcomers.
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| The Shorthorn: Kaci Cantrell |
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“The new girls bring something fresh,” Peciulionyte
said. “They fit in very well, and they’ll bring strength
to the team.”
The squad will be full when Daniela Novakova returns in the spring
after ineligibility and Simri van Rooyen recovers from injury.
With a full roster of healthy players this year, Wassmer said UTA’s
strong reputation for success will continue.
“One of the reasons we overachieved was because of what we’ve
done before,” he said. “I felt like a lot of teams were
intimidated by playing UTA.”
The men will return nearly the same team that finished 10-11 and
5-1 in the conference.
With three strong seniors, Sandy Farquharson, Neils Buksik and Ian
Vazquez, the men are expected to challenge defending champions Texas
A&M-Corpus Christi, Wassmer said.
“They were one of the top teams not only in our conference,
but in the country,” he said.
A strong supporting class backs up the seniors. Spaniard Alberto
Agis returns after being named the conference newcomer of the year
and an SLC first-teamer.
Diego Mattar, who came here from Chile, was named freshman of the
year and a second-team conference selection.
Venezuelan Daniel Omana, who was redshirted after an all-American
junior college career, has a great chance to step in and compete,
Wassmer said.
The team will also add another player in the spring, because of
extra scholarship money.
“In a conference the size of ours, bringing in one good guy
can make a big difference,” Wassmer said.
The four-time coach of the year said he expects a better season
from both teams.
“We struggled on both sides last year, he said. “We
will try to improve in every aspect for the season.”
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