Women's Tennis Optimistic About Season
December 21, 1999 | Women's Tennis
Dec. 21, 1999
The 2000 season looks to be a promising one for the Red Raiders. Optimism is running high with a new coaching staff in place, and with the team?s top three athletes from last year returning, it appears that Texas Tech could make some noise in the Big 12 Conference. Yet despite the reasons for optimism there are questions which remain to be answered.
Will the team be able to stay clear of the injury bug that hurt them during the fall season? Will Alenka Ovin be able to pick up where she left off last season after not playing during the fall? Will the team?s newcomers be able to shore up the bottom of the lineup?
?I think if we can just keep this team intact we will be able to accomplish our goals,?says head coach Virginia Brown ?I know we will because I?ve seen some of the talent. The ability is there, but ability isn?t always what makes it work.?
At the No. 1 spot there is the possibility of senior captain Amanda Earhart or junior Alenka Ovin. Earhart has battled injuries during her career but has still managed to be one of the teams top players. Earhart split time at the No. 2 and 3 spot last season and finished with an overall record of 8-9. Earhart will be looking to regain the form she showed her sophomore year (1998) when she went 10-9 and was an All-Big 12 selection in doubles play. For her career, Earhart has a singles record of 32-24.
Ovin, a junior from Maribor, Slovenia, was owner of the team?s best record last season when she went 15-7, playing mostly at the No. 2 spot. However, the coaching staff has still not had the chance to see what full ability she posesses because Ovin sat out the fall season to fulfill academic eligibility requirements. If she can come back to the form of 1999, the team will have a solid combination at the 1 and 2 spots.
Noel Ruiz, a sophomore from Paraguay, played well in the fall season and will most likely assume the team?s No. 3 spot. Ruiz compiled a record of 8-14 last year as a freshman, playing mostly at the No. 5 and 6 position.
Rounding out the squad for 2000 will be a pair of freshmen, Michelle Colaninni and Sonnia Orellana. Colaninni comes to Lubbock from McKinney, Texas, where she was one of the state?s top high school players. Orellana arrives from Guayquil, Ecuador after playing her high school career at the All-Star Academy in Florida.
Arriving on campus in the spring semester to help out the team will be another international player. Ayako Suzuki was one of the top players in Japan and is expected to help the team in her first year at Tech.
Looking at the doubles pairs, Brown said she is still unsure where everyone will be playing and who they?ll be paired with.
?We haven?t been able to establish that yet,? she said. ?We?re still trying to fill everything out. They can all play but we need to see who can play together and works well with each other. Once we get the lineup we?ll keep it.?
Ruiz and Orellano had success in the fall season as a doubles pair, but injuries to key players prevented the coaches from getting a full picture of what the doubles pairs could be.