MONDAY,FEB.25,2002
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3P
Tennis team changes lineup, defeats Southwest Missouri
By Jonah Ballow Kansan sportswriter
For the Kansas tennis team, returning home was the best medicine for a losing streak.
After two defeats away from home last weekend, the Jayhawks bounced back to defeat the Southwest Missouri State Bears 5-2 Saturday at the Alvamar Racquet Club, 4120 Clinton Parkway.
Kansas came into the match with a different lineup that featured sophomore Emily Haylock and freshman Paige Brown moving up to the No.1 doubles position.
Sophomore Courtney Steinbock and junior Kim Lorenz teamed up at No. 2 doubles,
and senior Cheryl Mallaiah and freshman Aurelle Bejar remained at No. 3 doubles.
The only singles change came at the No.6 position where senior Christi Wagenaar replaced Lorenz.
"I think the team responded very well," coach Kilmeny Waterman said. "Last weekend was very tough on us, but I think it really helped us for this weekend."
The change helped the Jayhawks win all three doubles matches, along with Haylock and Brown boosting their teambest 4-1 record.
In singles play, Mallaiah set the tone early by beating Ia Zozrashvili in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.
The No.1 singles player came out strong by attacking the net and winning points.
"After losing my last two matches, I tried to be more aggressive and consistent," Malliaiah said. "I had to come to the net or she would have dominated the match."
No. 3 singles Steinbock topped Marta Rubina 6-2, 6-3 and No. 5 singles Bejar cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Ala Alvarez.
Brown remained undefeated at No.4 singles by beating Laura Miller 6-4, 7-5, improving her record to 5-0 on the season.
"I felt really nervous and shaky but I stayed focused and just found away to beat her,"
Brown said.
Kansas could not escape injuries as No. 6 singles Wagenaar suffered a pulled quadriceps muscle in her left leg that forced her to retire the match against Maria Amato. A hip flexor injury slowed down No.2 singles Haylock as she was unable to beat Oyuki Cruz 6-2, 7-6.
Next on the schedule for the 3-2 Jayhawks is a tip to Utah where they face two non-conference opponents, Brigham Young and Utah, on Friday and Saturday.
Contact Ballow at jballow@kansan.com. This story was edited by Molly Gise.
Kansas swimmers finish fifth in conference championships
The Kansas swimming and diving team placed fifth out of six teams in the Big 12 Championships on Saturday in College Station, Texas, with 487.5 points.
"For the second straight day, we swam extremely well in the morning session," coach Cathy Burgess said about Saturday's performance. "I was very pleased. But we just couldn't take advantage of it in the finals and that really seemed to hurt us."
Texas claimed its fourth straight conference championship, with a score of 1,055.5.
The jayhawks finished in dramatic fashion, with the 400-
meter free relay team of freshman Jackie Krueger, senior Carrie Kirkham, freshman Aly Colver and freshman Amy Gruber placing second in a seasonbest time of 3 minutes. 23.79 seconds. The time was less than a second off the school record of 3:23.28.
"I'm very excited with how we closed out the meet in the relay and I' m proud of all the ladies," Burgess said. "Hopefully, this meet will be a stepping stone for the future."
After Kansas failed to qualify any swimmers for championship heats on Thursday, seven qualified Friday and six qualified Saturday.
Junior Gwen Haley finished fourth and junior Heidi Landherr finished fifth in the 400 IM Friday.
Freshman Amy Gruber placed fifth in the 200 free and freshman Miranda Isaac finished fifth in the 100 breast.
Isaac was followed by sophomore Kristen Johnson in sixth place and freshman Jackie Krueger in eighth. Sophomore Whitney Sondall tied for seventh in the 100 back championship heat. Kansas also earned fifth-place finishes in the 800 free relay and 200 medley relay.
Also on Friday, senior diver Rebecca McFall placed sixth in the 3-meter board competition.
She had finished second in the 1-meter board on Wednesday.
Isaac led three Jayhawks in the championship heat of the 200 breast Saturday. Isaac finished fourth, while Johnson finished sixth and sophomore Maegen Himes placed eighth. Gruber placed seventh in the 100 free championship heat. Landherr finished eight in the championship heat of the 200 back and Haley finished eighth in the 200 fly.
McFall closed out the diving portion with an eighth place finish in the finals of the platform competition.
Ali Brox
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scored nine runs in the first three innings, and added four more in the sixth.
"Hitting's contagious," said Tribble, who went 3-for-4 with two RBI. "Some days we're hitting the ball well, and other days we're not, but once guys get something rolling, everybody seems to pick it up for us."
Junior first baseman Kevin Wheeler had three hits and four RBI to lead the 12-hit offensive attack. Senior Jake Wright pitched six innings, allowing just one run on three hits. He retired the first 12 batters of the game before giving up a solo home run to John Vanden Berg to lead off the fifth.
"I think our pitchers are very pleased with what they've done so far," Randall said. "I think they like what's going on."
Pitching also proved key on
friday, with strong performances from senior Jeff Davis and freshman Tom Gorzelanny. Davis pitched six innings, scattering six hits and one run, and striking out seven. Gorzelanny was near perfect, pitching three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and earning his second save.
"I think we did real well," Davis said. "We put a couple good at-bats together and got some runs when we needed them, and Tom did a great job of coming in and closing it out."
A home run by Holmes broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth, and a 2-run homer by Tribble in the sixth finished the scoring.
The Jayhawks return to action tomorrow, when they play host to Creighton at 3 p.m.
Contact Wood at rwood @kansan.com. This story was edited by Kristi Henderson.
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"I can't complain although not throwing 80 feet is a little disappointing," Russell said. "I competed against three of the top five guys today and was able to win. There's only one top thrower I haven't competed against so it is a definite confidence builder, and I'll be able to take the confidence with me to the NCAAs."
Peters had to use some last-minute heroics to claim victory in the long jump.
Trailing Nebraska's Vesna Kostic with just one jump remaining, Peters leapt 19-10 3/4 to win the event by two inches and move into third all-time in KU history.
Coming into the meet with only the Big 12's sixth-best jump, Peters said she didn't expect to win but did expect to produce a personal best.
On her last jump, Peters said
she only had one thing going through her mind, something that assistant coach Milan Donley had been preaching to her all day.
"All I really thought about was getting speed on the runway, just like coach Donley told me," Peters said. "Keep my focus, think about speed on the runway, and don't worry about hitting the little things."
Other top performers for the Jayhawks include: freshman Brooklyn Hann, second in the triple jump with a jump of 41-1 1/2; senior Brian Blachly, second in the 1000 meters with a time of 2:25.57; junior Vadim Gvozdetskiy, who jumped 17-5 3/4 for second in the pole vault; junior Benaud Shirley in the triple jump, finishing second with a mark of 50-7 1/2.
Complete results can be found at jawhaws.org.
Contact Norton at mnorton @kansan.com.