Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Feb. 18, 2005, edition 1 / Page 15
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®tjr Sailg (Ear Ufrri lails from diverse backgrounds ate double trouble Hjj - f§f ’■ 1 H Ip ■ I mSSm M DTH PHOTOS/BRANDON SMITH is prepares for the volley as Kendall Cline smashes a serve during the duo's Coventry and Joelle Schwenk. Cline and Mojzis are the 14th-ranked doubles unleashes a powerful forehand. (Right) Mojzis prapares to return a serve. Spring Sports Tar Heels look to build on solid start BY AL KILLEFFER STAFF WRITER Led by a pair of senior, All-American captains, Kendall Cline and Aniela Mojzis, great things are expected from the North Carolina women’s tennis team, which is currently ranked ninth in the nation. After finishing last season tied for No. 16 and with a loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the team is looking to play at an even high er level in 2005. “This is a great group of players because they’re hungry, they’re excit ed, they get along well and they work hard,” said Coach Brian Kalbas. “1 think with this team, the opportuni ties are enormous.” Although Kalbas stressed that his goals for the team are more perfor mance-oriented than outcome-oriented, the players have no problem discussing the standards they set for themselves. “Our team actually sat down and talked about it,” said freshman Charlotte Tansill. “We want to win ACCs and get to the final site of NCAAs.” With a strong 7-2 start as ofTuesday, the team appears to be well on its way, but Kalbas said the Tar Heels are tak ing care to stay focused. “Last year, we started off so strong,” Kalbas said. “We were 12-1 and got to be five in the country, but at the same time, I think we lost track of the work that requires us to get to where we want. By the end of the year, we were playing well, but there was a middle portion of the year where we lost a lot of confidence.” Sophomore Sara Anundsen, the team’s No. 4 singles player, echoed her coach’s sentiments. “I hope that we peak around ACCs this year because last year, we seemed to peak in the middle of our season,” Anundsen said. “I just hope we prac tice smart and play smart so that our best is at the end of the season.” As long as the team maintains that competitive mentality, the ups and downs it endured last season seem unlikely, especially given that Kalbas “This is a great group of players because they’re hungry.... They get along well, and they work hard.” BRIAN KALBAS, UNC COACH is now in his second season and the team is loaded with talent. According to the ITA’s Fall Regional rankings, Mojzis, Cline, Anundsen, Jenna Long and Caitlin Collins all rank among the top 25 singles players in the Southeast, while the doubles teams of Mojzis/Cline and Anundsen/Long rank in the top 15. One factor that might not be as eas ily overcome is the team’s depth. “We only have eight players, so hopefully, we can all stay injury-free,” Anundsen said. “I feel like that’s the biggest thing.” The team now has seven healthy players, and given the difficulty of its schedule, there is a real possibility for injury. In terms ofthe toughness of the team’s schedule, the ACC now has three teams ranked in the top 10. The team won’t begin conference play until March, but it already has faced some stiff competi tion in non-conference matches. At the ITA National Team Indoors, the squad squared off against No. 7 Kentucky and No. 6 Vanderbilt, losing 5-2 and 4-3, respectively. The pair of defeats are the team’s only losses this season. “The matches we’ve lost this year were mainly because we just have not played the bigger points better than our opponents, and they have a little bit more confidence in themselves at * this point in time,” Kalbas said. “We’re at the point where we’re believing in ourselves when things are going well, but when it’s crunch time, that’s when we have to take it to another level.” FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2005 Serving the competition Mojzis and Cline rank among the top in the country, as do the Tar Heels Team Rankings 1. Stanford 2. Florida 3. Georgia 4. Northwestern 5. Duke 6. Vanderbilt 7. Kentucky 8. Washington 9. North Carolina 10. Miami (Fla.) 11. UCLA 12. Southern California 13. Texas 14. 15. Tulane Singles Rankings 1. Audra Cohen, Northwestern 2. Megan Bradley, Miami (Fla.) 3. Suzi Babos, California 4. Cristelle Grier, Northwestern 5. Julie Coin, Clemson 6. Nicole Leimbach, Southern California 7. Aibika Kalsarieva, Kentucky 8. Robin Stephenson, Alabama 9. Riza Zalameda, UCLA 10. Shadisha Robinson, Georgia 26. Aniela Mojzis, UNC 37. Kendall Cline, UNC Doubles Rankings 1. Audra Cohen/Cristelle Grier, Northwestern 2. Catrina Thompson/Christian Thompson, Notre Dame 3. Whitney Benik/Lolita Frangulyan, Florida 4. Maja Kovacek/lva Gersic, New Mexico 5. Riza Zalameda/Daniela Bercek, UCLA 6. Aibika Kalsarieva/Sarah Foster, Kentucky 7. Alice Barnes/Erin Burdette, Stanford 8. Megan Bradley/Audrey Banada, Miami (Fla.) 9. Zuzana Cema/Daniella Covello, Baylor 10. Megan Muth/Amy Wei, William & Mary 11. Joelle Schwenk/Kim Coventry, , Kentucky 12. Ashley Bentley/Robin Stephenson, Alabama. 13. Zerene Reyes/Jennifer Magley, Florida 14. Kendall Cline/Aniela Mojzis, North Carolina 15. Michelle DaCosta/Kara Delicata, Michigan 7
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 18, 2005, edition 1
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