ND WOMEN'S TENNIS: Irish open spring with dual matches
By COLIN BOYLAN
Sports Writer
The women's tennis team returns to action this weekend with home matches against Illinois State and Northern Iowa. And for the players, the start of the spring season can't come soon enough.
"We're really excited about the match this weekend," said senior Nina Vaughan. "Especially since we'll be playing at home."
The 14th-ranked Irish may have to shake off a little rust for their first dual match in over two months, but the layoff shouldn't affect them too severely. According to assistant coach Liz Barker, most of the players had great winter practices and are looking forward to maintaining their momentum from a solid fall season.
Captain Becky Varnum will try to continue her torrid fall pace in which she scored victories over several highly ranked opponents and firmly entrenched herself as a No. 1 singles player.
"We have a lot of confidence in Becky as our number one," said Vaughan.
Behind Varnum, Linsdey Green and Vaughn will fill out the two and three singles slots. Meanwhile, Katie Cunha, Alicia Salas and Sarah Jane Connelly will round out the starting lineup. Noticeably missing is sophomore Caylan Leslie, whose absence because of a shoulder injury caused the coaches to re-shuffle their starters.
"We'll certainly miss Caylan's presence out there, but I think our team is deep enough to survive some injuries," said Barker.
Injury concerns aside, Notre Dame should have little trouble with their opponents this weekend. Although Illinois State does feature the talented doubles pairing of Liina Suurvarik and Alesia Mikalayeva — who gave the Irish trouble in regional competitions earlier in the year — neither they nor Northern Iowa has enough singles firepower to compete with the Irish.
"I think as long as we play hard, we should be fine. Hopefully we'll be able to give a lot of people a chance to play and get some match experience," said Barker.
According to Vaughan, the team wants to use this weekend's matches as a stepping-stone towards completing their season goals. "This year we're hoping to go undefeated in regional play and make it to at least the sweet 16 of the NCAA's," she said.
Match play begins at 10 a.m. this Saturday against Illinois State and at 3 p.m. against Northern Iowa in the Eck Tennis Pavillion.
All Sports Stories for Friday, January 25, 2002
