WVU Opens Friday
January 29, 2003 01:23 PM | General
January 29, 2003
BLACKSBURG, Va. – West Virginia University women’s tennis coach Dan Silverstein believes in the power of positive thinking. And he put that philosophy to good use last year.
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| Junior Jennifer Watkins has won 17 career singles matches at WVU. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Besieged by injuries, suspensions and a lack of players, West Virginia limped through its spring schedule with a 5-15 record. By the end of the year the Mountaineers couldn’t even field a complete lineup.
“Nothing could be as bad as last year was,” he said.
That’s saying something since Silverstein has had plenty of opportunities to deal with tough situations in five short years as a collegiate coach.
The Slippery Rock graduate came to WVU after spending three years at Southeastern Louisiana, where he turned around a program that went 0-25 the year before he got there to 14-8 by the time he left for Morgantown.
Prior to that, he pumped life into the UNC Asheville men’s and women’s programs, taking the men’s team from 0-19 in 1997 to 9-11 just a year later. The women went from 2-15 to 6-9 after one season.
Silverstein is counting on the same type of improvement with this year’s West Virginia team. “I was pleased with the way we played in the fall,” he said. “Our two freshmen played particularly well.”
According to Silverstein, West Virginia’s freshmen doubles tandem of Melissa Day and Raynie Theis could wind up being regionally ranked before the year is over. The two teamed to produce a 14-2 fall record and come into the spring as the WVU’s No. 1 doubles team.
In addition, both Day, a Victoria, Australia resident, and Theis, a native of Bloomington, Minn., recorded winning records in singles play.
Anna Marie Underwood, a senior from Clinton, S.C., will once again be near the top of West Virginia’s lineup. Underwood cracked the school’s top 30 list in career wins last year and could move into the top 25 before season’s end.
Her best year came in 2000 when she produced a 27-22 fall-spring record. She went 6-4 last fall.
Junior Jennifer Watkins also returns with valuable experience. The Huntington native went 5-4 in the fall and comes into this season with 17 career singles victories.
Junior Courtney Howell’s season was cut short last year due to a knee injury, but she is recovered and will have a prominent spot in the team’s lineup this spring. She won seven singles matches as a freshman in 2001.
Freshman Catherine Koontz also played well in the fall and has a solid prep resume. Koontz, a Lexington, N.C., native, compiled a perfect 29-0 record in conference, state and regional play in 2000.
West Virginia only has six players available for its spring opener Friday afternoon against Arkansas-Little Rock in Blacksburg, Va., Silverstein says it is important for his team to take care of themselves and stay away from injuries.
“We’ve got to be careful how they eat and that they get good rest,” he said. “We’ve can’t afford to have the injuries we had last year.”
Silverstein was expecting help from LSU transfer Lauren Haddix, but she is ineligible to play this spring.
Arkansas-Little Rock will also be playing its first match of the spring season. Little Rock’s top player is Julieta Lillo, ranked 17th in the South region.
Virginia Tech is off to a 4-0 start with victories over Radford, James Madison, Hampton and East Tennessee State. The Hokies have the East’s 30th-best singles player in Kristen Stubbs, and Stubbs teams with Ginger Lowdermilk to rank 13th in the region in doubles.
Silverstein says that Nebraska transfer Elissa Kinard is also a talented player for the Hokies.
West Virginia will battle Tech on Saturday and finish the weekend with a match against Pitt on Sunday. The Panthers are 0-1 after dropping a 7-0 decision at Marshall.
“The biggest thing for us right now is to be competitive,” said Silverstein. “We’ve got to establish ourselves right off the bat and prove to people that they just can’t walk over us like they did last year.
“I think our ladies will be up to the challenge.”
