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This Weekend: Arizona opens its home schedule when it plays host to
Northern Arizona on Sunday, Feb. 4 at 2 p.m. MST. The Jacks are on a three
match losing skid after opening the season with an 6-1 victory over Grand
Canyon. The Wildcats will look to end a two match losing streak after
opening up the season with losses to Southern California (5-2) and UCLA
(6-1) last weekend in Los Angeles.
Best of the Best: UA senior Michelle Gough will travel to Dallas for the
NCAA Indoor Championships, Feb. 1-4. Gough earned a berth in the 32-player
singles field by advancing to the finals of the Region VIII tournament last
fall. This is the first time Gough has competed in the singles draw of this
tournament. Last season, Gough and doubles partner, junior Lindsay Blau,
were a match point away from winning the doubles crown. Play is slated to
begin Thursday, Feb. 1, at 8:30 a.m. CST.
Cats in the Polls: The Wildcats picked up where they left off last season
earning a No. 24 ranking in the preseason edition of the Wingspanbank.com
poll released Dec. 12. Arizona is also ranked fifth in its region heading
into the spring campaign. In addition, three UA players find themselves in
the singles poll: senior Michelle Gough (No. 3), freshman Debbie Larocque
(No. 19) and junior Laresa Marino (No. 24).
On the doubles side, Larocque and Marino are ranked No. 12 in the poll.
Region VIII Top 5
1. Pepperdine
2. Arizona State
3. Southern California
4. UCLA
5. Arizona
at Southern California (Jan. 26):
Wildcat senior Michelle Gough upset
ninth-ranked Jewel Peterson, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, in a 5-2 loss to the
twelfth-ranked Women of Troy. UA freshman Debbie Larocque secured Wildcats'
second point with a three set victory over USC's Anita Loyola. The Trojans
won all three doubles matches to secure the doubles point.
at UCLA (Jan. 28): Arizona freshman Perrine Pernin defeated UCLA's Zana
Zlebnik, 6-1, 6-4, accounting for Arizona's lone point in a 6-1 defeat at
the Los Angeles Tennis Center. In the five other singles matches, the
Bruins did not drop a set. On the doubles side, UCLA swept all three
matches earning the doubles point.
Pac-10 Indoor Championships (Jan. 12-14): Arizona junior Sophie Regnier
rebounded from an opening round loss in the flight two bracket to earn a
spot in the consolation finals. Regnier recorded victories over Washington
State's Anna Dybicz and Arizona State's Celena McCoury to advance to the
final match. Stanford's Lauren Barnikow defeated Regnier, 6-3, 6-3, to win
the flight two back draw.
In other singles action, freshman Debbie Larocque saw her five match
winning streak come to an end dropping her flight two quarterfinal round
match to Oregon's Janice Nyland, 7-5, 6-3. Larocque outlasted Stanford's
Lauren Barnikow in her opening round contest, 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-1.
On the doubles side, Regnier and teammate, freshman Perrine Pernin, cruised
into the semifinals of the flight two bracket. The duo enjoyed a first
round bye and topped UCLA's Chelsea Godbey and Mariko Fritz-Krockow in the
quarterfinals, 8-1. In their semifinal round match, Pernin and Regnier
narrowly fell short of gaining a spot in the finals falling to California's
Sekita Grant and Raquel Kops-Jones, 9-7.
ITA Region VIII Tournament (Nov. 9-13): Arizona's doubles team of senior
Michelle Gough and junior Lindsay Blau fell a match short from repeating as
champions. The third-ranked duo reeled off four wins before falling to the
No. 1 ranked team in the country, Ipek Senoglu and Paola Palencia of
Pepperdine, 8-4.
On the singles side, Gough recorded five victories on the weekend to earn a
berth in the championship match and a spot at the Indoor Championships,
Feb. 2-4, in Dallas. Gough was defeated by the third seeded Jewel Peterson
of Southern California, 6-4, 6-3.
Junior Brooke Taylor and freshman Perrine Pernin each advanced out of the
32-player qualifying draw to the 64-player main draw. Taylor continued her
hot play winning a three set match over UC Irvine's Darian Chappell, 3-6,
6-4, 6-2.
Blau won her first two matches in the main draw, advancing to the
quarterfinals. Victories over UC Santa Barbara's Cindy Ammann, 3-6, 6-3,
6-4, and Southern California's Melissa Esmero, 6-2, 6-3, prolled her to the
round of 16. USC's Peterson got the better of Blau as well, defeating her
in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.
Arizona senior Joanna Buczkowska was the only Wildcat who did not compete
in the tournament. Buczkowska was forced to withdraw due to a sore wrist
that had hampered her for most of the fall season.Wathen/Hancock Bulldog
Classic (Oct. 27-29): Arizona's doubles team of senior Michelle Gough and
junior Sophie Regnier earned three victories to earn a spot in the finals.
The duo fell just short of capturing the tournament title dropping its
final match to Fresno State's Kim Niggemeyer and Simone Jardim, 8-5. In
other doubles play, junior Laresa Marino and freshman
Debbie Larocque logged a pair of victories to advance to the semifinals.
The duo then lost to Gough and Regnier, 8-4. On the singles side, Gough
made noise running off two victories to move on to the semifinals. Gough
dropped a straight sets match to Niggmeyer, 6-1, 6-4. Each Arizona player
advanced to at least the second round and all three doubles teams stayed
alive through the third round. Overall, the Wildcats recorded a 12-7 mark
in singles and 7-3 record in doubles.
Riviera ITA All-American Tournament (Oct. 14-22): Arizona senior Michelle
Gough, junior Lindsay Blau and freshman Debbie Larocque competed at the
Riviera ITA All-American Tournament in Los Angeles.
In singles play, Gough dropped her opening round qualifying draw match to
North Carolina's Julie Rotundi, 6-2, 7-5.
Blau also earned a spot in the qualifying draw and swept her first two
matches over Stanford's Lauren Barnikow and California's Christina Fusano.
Ohio State's Kristi Dascoli defeated Blau in the third round, 6-1, 6-0.
Despite the loss, Blau advanced to the main draw after Wake Forest's Bea
Bielik withdrew from the tournament. Southern California's Jewel Peterson
outlasted Blau in the opening round match, 7-5, 6-3.
Larocque began the tournament in the pre-qualifying draw and with three
victories over Texas El-Paso's Elizabeth Stone, Northwestern's Shannon
Duffy and Boise State's Renate Stoop advanced to the qualifying draw. She
had her season long five-match winning streak snapped in the first round
falling to Ole Miss' Alesia Ignatieva, 6-2, 6-4.
On the doubles side, Blau and Gough tallied a 1-1 record on the weekend,
winning their main draw opening round match over South Carolina's duo of
Jennifer Radman and Katarina Markovski, 6-3, 6-1. The pair then dropped a
tighthly contested quarterfinal match to Texas' Vladka Uhlirova and Janet
Walker, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.
Larocque teamed up with freshman Sophie Regnier in qualifying draw action
and dropped their first match to Texas-El Paso's Jana Perkova and Ana
Brnas, 6-2, 6-2. For the tournament, the squad logged a 7-4 singles mark
and a 1-2 doubles record.
Thunderbirds Invitational (Oct. 6-8): Junior Laresa Marino advanced to the
semifinals of the consolation singles bracket in Tempe, Ariz., Oct. 7.
Marino recorded a 2-2 mark, moving her overall record on the fall season to
5-3, a team best. Wildcat senior Michelle Gough, earned a spot in the
quarterfinals of the main draw. For the weekend, she posted a 2-1 singles
record. Gough and Marino represented the Cats in doubles and split two
matches, winning the opening round match over California's duo of Christina
Fusano and Nicole Havlicek, 8-4, and then dropped their quarterfinal match
to Texas' Rebekah Forney and Ziva Grasic, 4-8.
Clay Court Championships (Sept. 18-24): Arizona Junior Lindsay Blau
withdrew from the ITA T.Rowe Price National Intercollegiate Clay Court
Championships, which took place Sept. 21-24, after suffering from excessive
swelling in her right knee. Blau earned a berth in the main draw after
enjoying a successful 2000 spring campaign. Thirty-two players rounded out
the tournament field, eight of which were in the preseason top 25.
William & Mary Invitational (Sept. 15-17): Junior Laresa Marino's play
highlighted what was otherwise a tough weekend for the Wildcats at the
William & Mary Invitational.
Marino recorded a 3-1 mark and advanced to the championship match of her
singles flight. Marino was outlasted by North Carolina's Caroline Hill,
4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Arizona faced some of the toughest compettition in the country. Six of the
10 teams were ranked in the top 50 at the end of last season. Overall,
Arizona logged a 13-12 singles record and went winless in four doubles
matches for the weekend.
Head Coach: Brad Dancer enters his second season as head coach at Arizona
with a dual match record of 10-12 (.455). Dancer played No. 1 singles and
doubles at Michigan State and graduated with a degree in business in 1993.
In his time at MSU, 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. This past summer, he coached the Delaware Smash to the World Team
Tennis title match against the Sacramento Capitals.
Last Season: In Dancer's first year at the helm, the team won 10 matches
and earned a top-25 ranking in the final poll of the season. The squad
posted a 10-12 overall mark and a 3-5 record in the Pac-10, earning a tie
for sixth in the conference. A 5-4 victory over sixth-ranked UCLA to start
conference play highlighted a solid season for the Cats. For its efforts,
Arizona earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the regional
finals.
