THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2012
TENNIS
CHRIS NEAL/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Sophomore Paulina Los approaches the net in a singles match-up against UMKC this past February.
Fresh start at Big 12 leaves tennis hopeful
CORBIN MIHELIC
cmihelic@kansan.com
cmihelic@kansan.com
The Kansas women's tennis team is currently 0-0 heading into the Big 12 Championships this week in Austin, Texas.
Or at least coach Amy Hall-Holt wants her team to pretend that's the case.
"Anytime you go into tournament season, it's a new ball game," Hall-Holt said. "It's a new season, basically, and so that's the mentality that we have to take. We've got to go in with a killer attitude."
A promising 7-0 start to nonconference play turned sour, and the Jayhawks won only two of its last 14 dual matches. None of those victories came against conference foes, and the team compiled a troubling 0-9 record in the Big 12 (9-12 overall).
The Jayhawks will face Oklahoma in the first round of the conference tournament, a
squad that handed Kansas its first conference loss, 5-2, a month-and-a-half-ago. To give an idea of how competitive the Big 12 is for women's tennis, the seventh-seeded Sooners are ranked No. 47 nationally. Eight different Big 12 teams hold positions in this week's ITA Division I rankings.
"When we played them the first time, we held our own," Hall-Holt said. "We can compete, and that's what we've got to do. We just have to compete for every point, go after it and work hard."
As players and coaches quickly point out, Kansas has fought and shown signs of success against some of the Big 12's best this season. No. 12-ranked and tournament two-seed Baylor barely squeaked by the Jayhawks, 4-3, only a month ago.
"We were right there," junior Monica Pezzotti said. "We need to build our confidence and believe in ourselves that we can beat those
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Kansas will begin its match against Oklahoma today at 10 a.m., and the format will be identical to every dual match played during the regular season.
teams."
This time, however, the single-elimination bracket has teams playing for their lives. One subpar match could be the difference between an upset victory and the Jayhawks thirteenth loss of the 2012 season.
The last year Kansas advanced past the first round of the Big 12 Championships was April 2008, the same month that Bill Self's men's basketball team cut down the nets in San Antonio to celebrate its national championship.
"I guess we're just going into it like we have nothing to lose," sophomore Dylan Windom said. "Just play to win, and we literally have nothing to lose."
— Edited by Pat Strathman
Astros end 11-game skid with victory over Brewers
MILWAUKEE — Jose Altuve had a career-best four hits, and J.D. Martinez had three hits and three RBIs to lead the Houston Astros over the Brewers 7-5 Wednesday and stop an 11-game losing streak against Milwaukee.
Chris Snyder put the Astros ahead for good at 5-4 with an RBI single in the seventh off Jose Veras (2-1) after Brian Bogusevic doubled and stole third.
Wilton Lopez (2-0) pitched a 1-2-3 sixth, and Brett Myers got three outs for
his third save. Houston, which hadn't beaten the Brewers since May 1, had 14 hits and won for the third time in 11 game overall. The Astros avoided a three-game sweep.
Martinez boosted the lead to 7-4 in the eighth with a two-run single off Mike McClendon.
Corey Hart hit a solo homer off David Carpenter in the eighth, when Wesley Wright induced an inning-ending flyout by to Cesar Izturis to Bogusevic, who made a sliding catch in right-field foul territory with two on.
David Carpenter had buzzed Carlos Gomez in seventh. Gomez ducked out of the way and glared at the pitcher. Brewers starter Shaun Marcum had hit Snyder leading off the second. Snyder walked to first, not even never looked at Marcum.
Astros starter J.A. Happ allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings with eight strikeouts, which tied his season high. Marcum had only one 1-2-3 innings and gave up four runs, eight hits and four walks in five innings.
Associated Press
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