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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2014
PAGE 3B
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SOFTBALL
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN
Kansas sings the Alma Mater after the softball game against the UMKC Roos on April 18, 2013. Kansas heads to South Carolina this weekend for the College of Charleston Classic where it will face five unfamiliar teams.
Tournament brings new opponents for Jayhawks
AMIE JUST
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sports@kansan.com
This weekend the Kansas Jayhawks head to Charleston, S.C., to participate in the College of Charleston Classic. Kansas faces five different opponents over the course of the tournament.
Kansas will play Fordham University in the first game of the tournament. Fordham went to the University of Central
Florida Invitational back on Feb. 7, but the matchup between the Jayhawks and Fordham was canceled due to weather. Fordham went 2-1 in that tournament, defeating Chattanooga and LIU Brooklyn while falling to the host team UCF. Senior catcher Gabby Luety and junior pitcher Michele Daubman were named Atlantic 10 Conference player and pitcher of the week, respectively.
Rounding out the doubleheader for Kansas, the Jayhawks will take on Ole Miss. The Ole Miss team is coming off of a tournament hosted by Florida Gulf Coast. Its record for the season is 2-3. Two of its losses came in dramatic fashion, as the team lost to Western Kentucky and Florida Gulf Coast 3-2 in both games.
The Jayhawks will face Western Carolina in the tournament, which is West
Carolina's first tournament of the season. Last season, the Catamounts went 20-36. One of their postseason highlights was beating heavily favored College of Charleston in the first round of the Southern Conference Tournament. Western Carolina sophomore first baseman Taylor Sigmon was named to the Southern Conference preseason second team. She led the team in home runs, RBIs and doubles last
season.
The fourth game will be against the tournament host, College of Charleston. The Cougars are 0-2 on the season, despite having a 37-20 record last year. They return eight starters to this year's Cougar squad.
The last team on the Jayhawks schedule for the weekend is DePaul University. The team is 3-2 on the season, coming off a tournament in Miami on
Feb. 7. Senior pitcher Kirsten Verdun was named Big East Conference Pitcher of the Week this past week. Verdun posted a 0.64 ERA in her three starts while striking out 28 batters in 22 innings.
Over the past three seasons, Kansas hasn't played any of these five teams, but is ready to take on the competition in South Carolina.
Edited by Blair Sheade
FRANK WEIRICH/KANSAN
Kansas senior Dylan Winholm returns a volley during a set against her UMKC opponent. Kansas held two meets on Sunday the 9th, playing against Eastern Michigan and UMKC
TENNIS
No.70 Kansas hopes to continue winning season
TORI RUBINSTEIN
sports@kansan.com
This week, the tennis team will look to continue its undefeated record when they travel to Texas to take on the Houston Cougars. Things are coming together for the Jayhawks, who are off to a perfect 5-0 record and broke into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's top-75 team rankings at No. 70 this week.
The Cougars come into Friday's match undefeated and are tied for the No. 66 spot in the ITA rankings. The two squads have already met once this season when Houston hosted a tournament during the fall slate. In that, meeting, Kansas fell to the Cougars, suffering four singles losses. However, Kansas did win two out of three doubles matches.
Houston has two extremely
strong singles players.
Freshman Despoina Vogasari
and sophomore Maria
Cardenas are both undefeated
"We talk about pressure being a privilege. If you have pressure, that means you are doing things that are important."
TODD CHAPMAN
Coach
so far this season. The Jayhawks, who have snatched the doubles point in every single one of their matches so far, will need to have another strong doubles performance to have a chance at winning.
"I think our girls really enjoy playing doubles and we have good chemistry in our three doubles teams," first-year coach Todd Chapman said. "We have
actually worked on doubles less than I would like so far this spring in practice, so I have been very pleased with our results."
With success comes expectations and Chapman said the girls are handling the pressure of being a ranked team very well. Chapman also stresses that having high expectations from others means that you are doing things right.
"We talk about pressure being a privilege," Chapman said. "If you have pressure, that means you are doing things that are important."
The Jayhawks will finish the weekend back in Lawrence against the UT-Arlington Mavericks who are currently 3-2. Matches begin at noon on Sunday at the Jayhawk Tennis Center.
Edited by Katie Gilbaugh
VERNON FROM PAGE 1B
Kansas teams of the past were known for. And that attitude has shown moments of bursting out for the Jayhawks on a regular basis, but they aren't there yet.
That doesn't mean they won't get there. In fact, they probably will. But in Kansas' last two losses, on the road to Texas and at Kansas State, even in its win at home against West Virginia, the Jayhawks didn't appear to let go. They haven't been playing free lately, and it's cost them.
The smiles and laughter have disappeared. The belief that, because they're wearing a Kansas jersey, they're going to beat you has diminished. In the long run, it most likely won't matter, but for this stretch in February, it appears the nuts aren't yet hanging.
By the end of the season, though, by March, these jayhawks will most likely be playing free. They'll be playing loose. And they'll be "letting them hang" Right now, however, this team could use a little more of what the 2008 team prided itself on.
Edited by Blair Sheade
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