8B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2009
TENNIS
Seniors lead by example
Returning players hope to teach freshmen, repeat last year's success
BY JUSTIN HILLEY jhilley@kansan.com
Last season, the women's tennis team finished fifth in the Big 12 under the leadership of the team's three seniors, the Jayhawks' best closing since 2002.
This season, senior duo Edina Horvath and Yuliana Svistun hope to provide the same guidance to their younger teammates. Horvath and Svistun will lead one junior, three sophomores and four freshmen.
"They are really trying to push the younger players," said coach Amy Hall-Holt. "They were very excited about the way they performed last spring, and they know they can continue on that high level."
The Jayhawks open the 2009 season at 11 a.m. on Saturday against the University of Texas at El Paso at First Serve Tennis, followed by two matches on Sunday against Drake and St. Louis University.
Based off of last season's performances, Kansas' young players are in good hands. Horvath was the team's top singles player, with 12 dual victories. Svistun finished with 10 victories, tied with Kunigunda Dorn and Lauren Hommell. In doubles, Horvath and Elizaveta Avdeeva finished with a 13-9 record.
last season
**Fall 2008 Singles Record**
Seniors: 6-5
Junior: 3-3
Sophomores: 7-8
Freshmen: 10-13
**Fall 2008 Doubles Record**
Yuliana Svistun/Ekaterina
Morozova: 6-2
Maria Martinez/Erin Wil-
bert: 4-2
Edina Horvath/Kunigunda
Dorn: 3-1
Kate Goff/Alessandra
Dzuba: 2-4
The strength of the Jayhawks' doubles team will be on display this weekend. The new combinations of Horvath and Dorn (3-1), Maria Martinez and Erin Wilbert (4-2) and Swistun and Ekaterina Morozova (6-2) all had winning seasons last fall.
"If you put anybody on the team together, they'd get along," Hall-Holt said. "The team unity is so high. I've never seen the unity of a team this passionate before."
The next several months will have the Jayhawks facing a seemingly endless list of high-ranked opponents. The Big 12 is one of college tennis's toughest conferences, led by No. 16 Texas and
2008 conference champion No. 4
Baylor The handmade workout
73rd in the ITA's preseason poll. The University of Oklahoma will host the Big 12 Championships in Norman, Okla., this year. Hall-Holt was proud of the team's 5-6 match record last season, and she recognizes that this season will be equally, if not more, challenging.
"We have a very strong conference, straight across the board," Hall-Holt said. "It's tough, but there is nothing holding us back right now, including injuries. We play a lot of tough schools, and it seems like every year you turn around and everybody is getting better and better. And that's our goal - every time we step out onto the court, we've got to continue to get better."
Although the Big 12 conference's marquee teams reside south of Lawrence, Kansas' players have their aim set on a team located to the east.
"We look forward to playing all conference teams, but I think one of the big matches that the girls are set on is, of course, Missouri," Hall-Holt said. "Last year's match was a tight one, and we should have won that."
The Jayhawks will play Missouri at home on March 22.
— Edited by Carly Halverson
File photo/KANSAN
Senior Edina Horvath returns the ball in a Feb. 2008 match. Horvath, along with senior Yuliana Swistun, hopes to lead their younger teammates to another successful season and ranking in the top half of the Big 12. Horvath was the team's top singles player last year with 12 dual victories. The team's first game is this Saturday against UTEP.
POLITICS
White House uses baseball analogies to explain large economic bill
BY BEN FELLER Associated Press Writer
When press secretary Robert Gibbs set out Wednesday to
WASHINGTON (AP) — This much apparently isn't changing at the White House: You better know the language of sports.
explain the status of a massive economic bill, he repeatedly spoke in baseball terms.
Reporters pressed him on details such as why some programs were worthy of getting money and whether President Barack Obama was disappointed about opposition from House Republicans as a
Gibbs then took the field.
"I hesitate to call the game after the third inning. I hate to declare the winner," Gibbs said. "I know we all have analysis to write, but let's not — let's not stop after the third inning and tell us who won in the ninth. It's a long process."
It was reminiscent of the George W. Bush White House, where officials explained even the most serious matters in sports analogies.
A reporter asked Gibbs if some spending programs might be scrapped when a final bill emerged.
"I think this largely proves my
somewhat maybe possibly weak baseball analogy," Gibbs said. Again, he said, it is only the third inning.
"They do," Gibbs said. "But they don't declare winners. You get up and stretch at one point during the game. And there's a man that says you can't buy beer after a certain time, but the umpire doesn't declare the game over except for one point in the game, so I guess I would stress that, even as you get up to stretch and buy beer, they only call one winner, so let's hope that that one winner is the American people, because both teams have worked together."
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