Tennis Opens Friday
January 21, 2009 10:59 AM | General
January 21, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Marc Walters says he plans on taking a match-by-match approach with this year’s West Virginia University women’s tennis team.
 |
||
| Sophomore Ashley Pilsbury is one of West Virginia's top returning players.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
The Mountaineers must replace more than 50 percent of their starting lineup, including four of their top six players from a year ago. WVU’s top four from a year ago also happened to be four-year starters.
“There is going to be a lot of inconsistency and there are going to be days when we don’t play very well and then there are going to be days when we look like we know what we’re doing,” Walters said.
West Virginia opens the 2009 spring campaign Friday afternoon against Akron at the Ridgeview Racquet Club. Last year, the Mountaineers defeated the Zips 5-2 in Akron.
“Akron has picked up a couple of top 100 girls to plug in at one and two and we lost our top two,” Walters said. “It doesn’t take long in tennis for the shoe to be on the other foot.”
Walters isn’t sure exactly what his lineup will look like on Friday, but he is reasonably confident that Wichita State transfer Olga Elkin, juniors Stephanie LaFortune and Monique Burton, and sophomore Ashley Pilsbury will be in the top four. Elkin and Pilsbury most like will be Walters’ top two players.
“They have established themselves with their consistency,” Walters explained.
Veronica Cardenas, a freshman from Powder Springs, Ga., played A-flights in the fall and should get one of the starting nods at singles.
“She didn’t get a chance to win as many matches as some of the girls who played lower,” Walters said. “That’s the nature of the animal when you don’t have a true No. 1. Somebody is taking losses while others are getting some wins.”
Walters is also liking what he’s seen so far from freshman Milica Pantovic, a native of Novi Sad, Serbia, as well as junior Gabriela Blaskovicova.
“The last three days we’ve played challenges and our No. 7 girl from the fall, Milica Pantovic, she’s playing the best tennis of anybody on the team right now shot for shot,” Walters said.
As for doubles, Walters plans on experimenting with different groupings during the early portion of the season.
“We will fish around for some combinations and we have some players with some really nice tools for doubles: big servers, good, solid volleys and aggressive play,” Walters said. “One thing I like about being young is they have listened to what we’ve told them and what we expect, and they are executing it.
“They are not necessarily pulling the shots off but they are getting into position to do well,” Walters continued. “They will learn how to finish points as they get older. We’re improving every day and if we can continue to get better after every hour we’re on the court, by the end of the season I think we’ll be a pretty competent team.”
Walters says he is looking for players willing to play tough, aggressive tennis.
“I think our mentality is going to be dig in, be bulldog-like and don’t let go for three hours and make these other teams try and put us away as opposed to giving them anything,” Walters said. “The girls that have that mindset and compete are the ones who will get most of the reps for us this year.”
A day after the Akron match on Saturday, West Virginia will face a stiff challenge against Marshall, rated 46th in the most recent ITA team rankings.
The Mountaineers also have challenging matches later in the year at Nebraska, at Maryland, at New Orleans and at Southern Mississippi.
West Virginia’s Big East slate features matches against Syracuse, Pitt, Seton Hall, Villanova, Georgetown, Rutgers and Connecticut.
The Big East’s four ranked teams - Notre Dame (17th), Louisville (40th), USF (43rd) and DePaul (62nd) - are not on West Virginia’s regular season schedule. The Big East does not have a round-robin playing format in tennis.
“You only have so many non-conference dates,” Walters explained. “Most of the schools that are ranked are only going to play schools above them.”
Consequently, the Big East uses a selection committee to determine the post-season tournament field factoring in strength of schedule, ITA rankings and won-loss records.
“We don’t have a legitimate conference qualifying standard,” Walters said. “You can go 0-0 in the conference and still make the tournament if you have good non-conference wins.”
Next year there is a movement to include all of the teams in the tournament. Walters isn’t sure that is the best solution.
“I think it should be something that you qualify for and for us that is one of our main team goals this year,” he said. “We’re not going to be a favorite to make the tournament. There are just too many new faces and nobody knows what to think of us.”
