This Weekend: The No. 31 Wildcats begin conference action by playing host
to two of the top teams in the country, No. 6 UCLA and No. 10 USC. Both
teams enter this weekend's play 2-0. Arizona welcomes in UCLA on Friday,
which boasts five nationally- ranked players. Leading the way in the
national singles rankings is freshman Sara Walker at No. 46. Annica Cooper
is UCLA's only other player ranked in singles, listed at No. 83. In
doubles, Walker and Petya Marinova went from being unranked in the
preseason to No. 19, while Elizabeth Schmidt and Abigail Spears, also
unranked in the preseason, are listed at No. 35. UCLA's first two victories
came over Cal State Northridge, 6-1, and No. 23 Fresno State, 7-1.USC comes
to Tucson Saturday after a Friday match in Tempe with Arizona State. The
Trojans opened the dual-match season with victories over UC Santa Barbara,
6-3, and UC Irvine, 7-2. USC has two singles and one doubles team
nationally ranked. Freshman Jewel Peterson is No. 4, and freshman Anita
Loyola is No. 70. The doubles team of freshman Tiffany Brymer and Kara
Warkentin garners the No. 39 spot.
UA Invitational: The Wildcats swept the weekend's three matches for the
first time since 1997 when Arizona logged victories over Illinois (5-4),
Mississippi State (9-0), and Texas Christian (6-0). Highlighting the
weekend's play was freshman Uzma Khan and junior Michelle Gough's upset
victories of two of the top three players in the nation. Khan knocked off
the top-ranked player in the country, San Diego's Zuzana Lesenarova, 6-3,
7-5, while Gough notched a victory over Lesenarova's teammate, No. 3
Kataryna Valkyova, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Arizona surrendered just five points over
the weekend, dropping four singles and a doubles match.
Coming in Threes: Head coach Brad Dancer is a perfect three for three in
dual matches as a college head coach. Arizona went undefeated in this past
weekend's UA Invitational against No. 27 New Mexico, No. 29 San Diego, and
No. 62 Kansas State.
Last Season: Arizona finished the season with an overall record of 8-14
placing them sixth in the Pac-10 Conference. The Wildcats advanced to the
second round of the NCAA Tournament before being eliminated by top-ranked
Florida.
Cats in the Polls: Arizona begins the dual-match season where it left off
last year with a No. 31 national ranking. Freshman Uzma Khan received a No.
101 singles ranking for her strong performance in the fall season. The
doubles team of junior Michelle Gough and sophomore Lindsay Blau earned a
No. 8 doubles ranking after wrapping up the fall season winning the Region
VIII doubles championship.
Head Coach: Brad Dancer is in his first year as head coach at Arizona
replacing Stephanie London. Dancer played No. 1 singles and doubles at
Michigan State, graduating with a degree in
business in 1993. In his time at Michigan State, Dancer was a four-time
Academic All-Big Ten member and was selected to the All-Big Ten team his
senior year. Dancer's professional coaching highlights include serving as
an assistant for the 1996 Fed Cup team.
Assistant Coaches: Kevin Epley and Vicky Maes round out the coaching staff
for the Wildcats this season. Epley comes to Arizona after serving as an
assistant last year at Alabama. In addition to his duties at Arizona, Epley
is involved in coaching at the professional tennis level including serving
as an assistant for the Fed Cup team under head coach Billie Jean King.
Maes, a four-time tennis All-American, returns to her alma mater as a
volunteer assistant. Maes graduated from Arizona in '98 but not before
becoming the most decorated player in the program's history. Maes was a
two-time Pac-10 Player of the Year, a GTE All-American, and was selected to
the Pac-10 All-Decade team.
Quotes
"UCLA and USC are super strong teams. Top to bottom, their lineup is very
strong. Stella (Sampras) and Richard (Gallien)are two great coaches that
have built elite programs. They are certainly programs that we would like
to model ourselves after."
"This weekend is why it is fun to play in the Pac-10. Coming off a very
solid weekend for us and we're feeling really good about ourselves. We just
need to continue improving and see where we are at this weekend. This is a
great measuring stick of what we need to do to become a top program in the
country."
"Right now I like the progress that this team is making. We had some
impressive victories last weekend and we are continuing to make steps in
the right direction."
