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Men's tennis team has drive, teamwork
♦Tennis team riding a three-match winning streak, hoping to improve on early 1-3 record
BY DANA MENDOZA
Staff Writer
It is a game of skill, a game of
anticipation and control, and it is a
game based on sportsmanship and hon
esty. It is a sport that has a long his
tory at Guilford College. What other
sport fits such a detailed description
than men's tennis?
Although the team is small com
pared to most other Guilford teams, the
body of the program and those who fill
its positions consistently remain com
petitive with each new season.
The Quakers have done an im
pressive job at stepping up as a team
despite the loss of key players Kevin
Perndergrast and John Terry two years
ago. The '9B squad is made up of ten
dependable athletes who look forward
to each upcoming match with confi
dence and the drive to win.
Looking ahead to 1998 MLB season
BY DAN GATTI
Sports Editor
Baseball preview magazines are such
crap. They charge you $5.95 for their
TEAM-BY-TEAM ANALYSIS and PRE
DICTIONS (Always printed in 24-point
fo:nt and preferably in bright or even neon
colors) and then they make the great and
daring prediction: EVERYTHING WILL
BE THE SAME! For example, I'm hold
ing right now a copy of the 1998 preview
issue of The Sporting News. In it's Ameri
can League section, it is predicting that the
division crowns will be New York, Cleve
land, and Seattle, with, shock of all shocks,
Baltimore as the wild card. In other words,
New York is going to unseat Baltimore on
top of the AL East, but the four playoff
teams will be exactly the same.
And maybe they will be exactly the
same. But I don't need to buy a $6 maga
zine to tell me something I could just figure
out by looking at the final 1997 standings.
So for those of you who are similarly dis
satisfied, I offer to you: the gambler's 1998
predictions.
Are these all going to be right? Maybe
not, but at least they're real predictions.
They're based on the knowledge that things
Thus far the Quakers sport a 4-4
record. The team started out the sea
son with a 5-2 win against Ferrum.
Unfortunately, Guilford immediately fell
into a three-match losing streak when
they faced Washington and Lee,
Catawba, and Transylvania.
It is not a surprise, given the tal
ent of the team, that the losses failed
to affect the team's morale and deter
mination. The team evidently would
not accept a 1-3 standing and fought
back, giving themselves a three-match
winning streak against Mt. Union, Slip
pery Rock, and Goucher College.
The Quakers have eight more
matches until the end of their sched
uled season. And with only one con
ference match behind them, the team
must continue to prepare themselves
to play six more teams in the ODAC.
It is prime time for the Quakers
to take advantage of the wide variety
don't stay the same, and that no team is
exactly alike two straight years. This week,
the American League.
AL EAST
1. Boston. Thought I'd start you out
with the biggest surprise of the year. In the
off season, Boston acquired the greatest
pitcher in baseball last year, Pedro Martinez,
who at 26 is a much better bet then Randy
Johnson (35), Roger Clemens (36) or Mike
Mussina (33). The additions of veteren
closer Dennis Eckersley and rookies Brian
Rose and Robinson Checo, give the Red
Sox the most pitching depth in the league to
go along with their second best offense in
baseball last year. That adds up to wins in
the mid-90s.
2. Toronto. Their pitching, of course,
was and is excellent, and with Guzman
back, Chris Carpenter looking good and
Randy Myers, it will be even better this year.
Their hitting has improved as well; Cruz,
Green, Caseco, Stanley and Delgado are
all solid hitters in a lineup which will win a
lot of 2-0 games.
3. New York. Can Chuck Knoblauch
pitch? Because David Cone (arm surgery),
David Wells (shoulder), Ramiro Mendoza
(talent) and Hideki Irabu (head) can't.
Good lineup, but overrated accross the
Sports
of talent which makes up this year's
team. Coach Steve MacDermut be
lieves that the Quakers have a much
deeper team this year as a result of both
the new and returning players.
In the number one singles slot is
Dan Drossman, a third-year player.
Drossman was ranked 33 rd in the na
tion (Division III) and seventh in the
South in the Intercollegiate Tennis As
sociation (ITA) preseason rankings.
He reached the finals of the Rolex
Tournament in the fall, which featured
the top 64 players in the South.
Drossman's personal record is pres
ently 5-3.
Seeded at number two for the
Quakers is junior Gary Young. Young
has been on the team for three years
and continues to hold a position as the
season moves ahead.
The player seeded at number
three is senior Jay Weatherly. Coach
board.
4. Baltimore. Baltimore has one regu
lar under the age of 30, and he (Hammonds)
isn't very good. That adds up to a disap
pointing season for a crumbling team.
5. Tampa Bay. Actually, not a bad
team. Alvarez, Springer and Arrojo could
be good and Sorrento, McGriff and Boggs
make up a mediocre lineup. But not in the
AL East.
AL CENTRAL
1. Detroit. Yes, that's right, Detroit.
The Tigers improved 22 games last year
with guys like Clark, Higginson, Thomp
son. With Encarnation coming up this year,
their lineup will again be excellent, and their
rotation, led by Thompson, is at least better
then Cleveland's.
2. Cleveland. Pop quiz: name three
good healthy Cleveland starters. Answer:
Jaret Wright, Charles Nagy and... um...
3. Chicago. They've got three of
the best players in baseball in Thomas,
Ventura and Belle. Too bad their rotaion
consists of the most injury prone pitcher in
the league (Bere), a promising pitcher who
turned into a mediocre one (Baldwin), two
unexciting rookies (Sirotka and Eyre) and
Jamie Navarro as the staff "Ace"
4. Minnesota. Boy, the Twins suck.
MacDermut commented that, " Jay had
a good season last year and continues
to improve. So far he is having a
strong season this year and he is spe
cifically helping out a great deal with
doubles." Johnny Mavromatis returned
to the men's team this year after not
playing last season. He has earned a
solid position at number four and is wel
comed back by his teammates.
Men's Tennis Schedule
Roanoke- 4/2/98 3 pm
at Hamden-Sydney, 3 pm
Lynchburg, 3 pm
Averett, 3 pm
Virginia Wesleyan, 2 pm
at Bridgewater, 12 pm
ODAC tournament (at Guilford)
4/24 - 4/25
If Todd Walker and Marty Cordova re
bound from their terrible years, the Twins
have potential to be mediocre, but don't
count on it.
5 . Kansas City. The only team worse
then the Twinkies, now that Appier is out
for a couple months, the Royals have no
pitching to go along with their lack of hit
ting.
ALWEST
1. Anaheim. They finished four
games out, and a year of experience for
the young Angels will make up that differ
ence. Look for Hill, Erstad, Greene and
Finley to all have big years.
2. Seattle. They finished four games
up on Anaheim, and a year of age for the
aging Mariners will make up that differ
ence. Look for Buhner, Johnson, and
Moyer to have disappointing seasons, but
they 'll probably take the wild card anyway.
3. Oakland. With Hinch, Grieve and
Tejeda, they're a couple of years away
from reestablishing the old Athletic dynasty
of the late 80s.
4. Texas. See 'Chicago.' Greer,
Gonzalez and Pudge are great, but they sim
ply don't have the pitching to win in a tough
division. Burkett is not an acceptable staff
ace.
The Guilfordian
March 27, 1998