BASEBALL: Team to face Texas for three-game set. SEE PAGE 7A. TRACK: Kansas does well in first day of Texas Relays. SEE PAGE 6A
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SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
10A
FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2002
Tennis team reaps benefits of friendship
By Jonah Ballow Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas tennis team has worked to improve on its 11-11 record last season by changing the atmosphere and establishing friendships between players and coaches. The enhanced team chemistry has paid off for the Jayhawks (12-3 overall, 6-0 Big 12 Conference) in the form of a nine-game winning streak.
streak.
"This year we want it more. We are on new ground because of all of the talent on this team," sophomore Kristen Steinbock said.
Coach Kilmency Waterman is in her second year after being an assistant coach for Kansas from 1992-95. Waterman has helped propel the Jayhawks to the second-best record in the Big 12, behind perennial power Texas.
"We go out on the court, and I think we can beat any team."
Paige Brown freshmen
"Coach has brought a lot to the team. She is a lot more laid back then our previous coach," junior Kim Lorenz said. "She is so easy to talk to and is always there for us."
ays there for us. Lorenz, who has lost only once this season, has helped the Jayhawks in numerous close matches.
helped the Jayhaws in it. "I get so nervous when my teammates are court side," Lorenz said. "However, I feel I have the experience to get the win."
fence to get the win. Freshmen have boosted the Kansas lineup and added diversity and confidence to the team.
Aurelie Bejar, a 5-foot-9 freshman from Clemont-Ferrand, France, did not join the team until January. Bejar, who has a 12-1 record at No. 5 singles, has found a home in Lawrence, with her teammates and coaches helping her learn the American culture and the English language.
"I love the ambition of the team, and the coaches are all very nice," Bejar said. "I never imagined we would be doing so well. It's great."
Freshman Paige Brown had a blistering start to the season, winning her first eight matches at No.4 singles. Brown is a spark plug for the Jayhawks, with her confidence and upbeat personality.
her command and applaud. "It would be phenomenal to go undefeated at home," Brown said. "We go out on the court, and I think we can beat any team."
After a rough start to the season, twins Courtney and Kristen Steinbock have bounced back to win six straight matches at No.1 doubles. Courtney was recently named Big 12 Player of the Week for her play at No.3 singles. The sophomore is currently on a nine-match winning streak in singles.
a nine-match winning streak. "Early in the season, I had the worst attitude, and I didn't want to play because of injuries," Kristen Steinbock said. "We started playing more as a team than sisters."
The coaches and the players have developed a philosophy that has produced lasting friendships and victories.
"We are all pretty close friends, and we all work together," Lorenz said. "Everyone is starting to believe."
Kansas defeated Kansas State 4-3 on Wednesday. It faces Missouri at noon Saturday and Iowa at 11 a.m. Sunday at the tennis courts outside of Robinson Center.
Contact Ballow at jballow@kansan.com. This story was edited by Brandon Stinnett.
Softball pitcher primed
Serena Settlemier's confident pitching leads team to win
By Ali Brox
Kansan sportswriter
The story the last two days has been Serena Settlemier. The freshman pitcher for the Kansas softball team threw a one-hitter yesterday in the Jayhawks' second-game 2-0 victory against Creighton. Kansas won the first game 6-1 and improved to 22-15 on the season.
Settlemier's good pitching was an extension of her four hitless innings on Wednesday. Settlemier has surrendered just one hit, no walks and had 10 strikeouts in her last 11 innings.
"I'm very, very pleased with how Serena Settlemier has been throwing the ball for us recently," coach Tracy Bunge said. "It's really nice to have a freshman gain confidence every time she steps out on the mound. She's figuring things out. That's a real boost because it gives us the necessary depth that we need heading into a long stretch here the last month of the season."
The Jayhawks started early yesterday in game one, scoring two runs on four hits in the first inning. Senior centerfielder Shelly Musser got the Jayhawks started with a lead-off double to centerfield.
But Settlemier admitted she owed a lot of her good fortune to the play of her teammates.
"When I do make a mistake and throw a ball down the middle and it gets hit our defensive is doing awesome behind me," Settlemier said. "And that helps a pitcher out. They're helping me get the shutout and the onehitter."
"That's big for us to get Shelly on track," Bunge said. "She is the catalyst that kind of stirs things for us, and when she's on we're a much better team."
Creighton threatened in the top of the second, but a sliding catch by senior left fielder Christi Musser stranded runners on first and third and ended the Bluejays' hopes.
Creighton did get on the board in the fifth inning when freshman outfielder Katie Ayers doubled to center and advanced to third on a bobbled bunt by sophomore catcher Dani May. A hit to left by sophomore outfielder Stacey Rybar scored Ayers.
scores by Age.
The Jayhawks answered with three runs of their own in the fifth, and Shelly Musser added a solo shot to right in the sixth inning for the 6-1 final score.
In game two, the Jayhawks managed just one run, scoring in the bottom of the second. After a飞 out by senior third baseman Megan Urquhart, senior catcher Leah Tabb struck out but was safe at first as the third strike got past Creighton's catcher. Tabb advanced to second on a fielder's choice. With two outs, sophomore outfielder Mel Wallach hit one to right, scoring Tabb. Wallach was caught at second after the throw at home, but the single run was all Kansas needed.
Serena Settlemier pitches against Creighton yesterday afternoon at Jay hawk Stadium. The 'Hawks won 2-0 at jayhawk Stadium.
KIMBERLY THOMPSON/KANSAN
Defensively, the Jayhawks committed no errors in the second game and backed up Settlemier effectively in the field.
in the hect. "I think when our defense is like it's been, then our hitting takes care of itself." Settlemier said.
The Jayhawks head to Texas A&M this weekend for two games with the Aggies. Kansas starts play tomorrow at 2 p.m. and faces off again Sunday at noon. The three victories this week, and the improved play, especially
offensively, for the Jayhawks translates into increased confidence for the Kansas squad.
"I think it builds most of our team's confidence," Settlemier said. "Our hitting's back and if we have our
pitching staff doing what I did today we should be back in there."
Contact Brox at abrox@kensan.com. This story was edited by Justin Henning.
A strong Kansas will return even if Gooden doesn't
Empathize.
Empatiize. Put yourself in a pair of Drew Gooden's size 17s.
You were picked first team All-American. You topped the best conference in college ball in points and rebounds. You came back for a third season to win. Thirty-three W's later, your season ends in the Final Four, a goal most athletes attain only in their dreams.
Now it comes time to make a decision. The NBA or a National Championship? Lottery pick or late-morning classes? Millions of dollars or more memories?
Jeff Denton
jdenton@kansan.com
Now stop. Think. And decide.
You enter the Draft.
Drew Gooden could come back and tweak his game. Yet he already has scouts salvating. And vindication for his sour and soft 15-point game against Maryland has far less value than the overpowering dollar sign. Even without Gooden manning the post next season, the state of
Kansas basketball will never be healthier.
Talent carries a team through the season. Luck helps it slide through the NCAA tournament. But leadership wins you a championship. Maryland embodied that this season
Maryland triumphed with pluck power and potential.
power and potential
Senior guard Juan Dixon splashed jumpers, angled floaters and played cutthroat defense for 40 minutes.
Despite playing on legs the size of straws and with a frail fame, he amazed college basketball fans
because he had no fear. Of the 160some odd pounds that Dixon carries on his body, about half of that comes from his heart.
When Indiana guard Dane Fife stonewalled Dixon in the first half of Monday night's Championship Game, senior center Lonny Baxter elevated his own game. Always aggressive and skillful with his big paws active around the basket, the 6-foot-8, 260-pounder went for 15 points and 14 rebounds. A blue-collar double-double. That's what made Baxter good for three years. It brought him prestige when he was a senior.
senior:
And then there's sophomore Chris
Wilecox. Two words. A freak. The nastiest
dunker in college basketball.
trestanker in college.
His arms are long and sculpted, his
legs lithic and graceful, his vertical
jump unmatched. This time last year,
the 6-10 Wilcox averaged a little more
than three points a game as a freshman.
He spent last summer fine-tuning his athletic gifts and came back a stronger, more confident and more attractive player. His name will be called shortly after Gooden's in the Draft.
Dian. Next year's Kansas will be this year's Maryland.
Kirk Hinrich will be Juan Dixon but with more flair.
Dixon was brilliant moving without the basketball to get his shot. Hinrich needs to get better at this, because next season teams will zero in on him as an offensive threat. But he can score in flurries — like his back-to-back 28 and 26 point Big 12 games in early February — and he stifles guards with his pressure defense. Without Jeff Boschsee, Kirk will have the trigger to pull up behind the arc as much as he wants. And no one in the college game has a prettier or more accurate stroke.
Nick Collison will be Lonny Bax-
SEE DENTON ON PAGE 6A
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