Wednesday, January 21. 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 3
Tennis trio courts success
Women give skills experience to team
By Erin Thompson
Kansan sportswriter
Seniors Kyle Hunt, Christie Sim and Maria Abatjoglou provide more than wins for the Kansas women's tennis team.
The trio of seniors provides leadership and experience. They are the veteran members of a team that finished second in the Big 12 last season and are ranked second in their region this year.
"They're all great on the court, they've been there and seen it all," said coach Roland Thornvig.
Hunt was the runner-up in the NCAA individual tournament in 1996 before she injured her knee last January. After her injury, Hunt was forced to redshirt last spring.
Sim stepped up and played the No.1 position this fall, and she jumped from 90th to 29th place in the Rolex Collegiate Tennis Rankings. Abatjoglou was a member of the GTE Academic All America first team last spring.
After playing doubles this fall, Hunt returned to singles play at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic, where she advanced to the quarterfinals earlier this month.
Hunt: Back on the court after injury.
"Usually, losing in the quarterfinals would
be a disappointment to a player of Kylie's caliber, but for her first time back, it was valuable match experience," Thornqvist said. "We were able to see where her endurance was and how her knee held up."
Sim had a big fall season in the top spot for Kansas, where she competed at a higher level.
"The experience she gained when Kylie was injured helped her improve. She saw it wasn't a big deal to play at that level of competition." Thornqvist said. "The awe was gone and she was able to settle down and play her game."
Abatajolou was the only team member to win a tournament this
fall, when she won the Washington Invitational in October.
"I was pretty excited to win because I'd never won a tournament in the fall," Abatajgou said. "That was the last chance I had to win one."
"The team has the ability to go this year," Abatjoglou said. "Things haven't gone our way in the past and the three seniors want to go once."
The seniors hope to beat Brigham Young University, which is ranked first in the region, on March 6, and lead the team to the NCAA finals.
Next year Sim and Hunt hope to play professionally, and Abatjogloou plans to attend law school after another year of classes. But for now, the seniors are concentrating on this season.
"Right now I just want to help the team out as much as I can by taking care of my knee and through my actions on the court." Hunt said.
The three have established a strong base for the underclassmen to build on next year.
"All three are showing the way for the freshmen, sophomores and juniors," Thornqvist said. "They're good leaders and are showing them what the program is about."
Rafter swings into Australian Open
Aussie draws victory opponent gets booed
The Associated Press
MELBOURNE, Australia — U.S. Open champion Patrick Rafter played two astonishing points for a key break in the next-to-last game before overcoming stubborn Jeff Tarango yesterday in the first round of the Australian Open.
Rafter's big serve and acrobatic volleying finally prevailed against the Tarango's baseline sharpshooting, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 7-5 in the night match that lasted three and a half hours.
Some of the most devastating shots came at 5-5 in the final set. On the first point, Rafter surprised Tarango by chasing down shots on opposite sidelines and pressuring the American into netting a forehand.
Two points later, he went ahead 0-40 by curling a forehand passing shot down the line on a dead run.
That almost wasn't enough. Tarango, ranked No. 58, got back to deuce on two errors by the No. 2 seed and a passing shot that he punctuated with a fist gesture toward Rafter that drew boos from the crowd.
But two Tarango errors gave Rafter the game, and he served out the match, ending with his 26th ace.
Earlier in the final set, Tarango was given an unsportsmanlike conduct warning after holding up two fingers and shouting at the umpire: "That's two (line calls) you owe me, and you know it."
He had just been broken to trail 3 2 but immediately got the break back.
Tarango refused to discuss the incident.
Andre Agassi and third seed Michael Chang also had to struggle
through their first-round matches.
In contrast, women's defending champion Martina Hingis' match was easy enough to allow her to try out new strategies to defend her No. 1 ranking against a wave of teenagers.
Agassi took an early 3-1 lead, but then lost five straight games against Italian qualifier Marzio Martelli, ranked 133rd, and let the second set's second game slip away after six break points and 11 deuces.
Then he rallied for a 3-6, 6-7(3), b-2, 6-2 victory, finishing the 2-hour, 22-minute match with a trademark play, forcing a short return and putting away a forehand crosscourt.
Coming back from a year-end slump and a strained stomach muscle, Cheng needed slightly more than three hours to overcome Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-3.
The muscle injury was not bothering him, he said.
Did YOU See It???
- The KU women upset #16 Nebraska 83-74 in the fifth annual Fill the Fieldhouse.
"The most exciting basketball game I saw this weekend had no dunks, no overinflated egos, and no testosterone surplus... I'm talking about the unranked Kansas women's basketball team surprising No. 16 Nebraska..."
Eric Weslander - University Daily Kansan
- Down by 20, the Jayhawks never quit and stunned Texas when they came back for a thrilling 76-71 victory.
"We showed great character. Texas was like, 'We got this'. But we didn't die. We didn't go away. They expected us to lay down... I knew we could do it, but we needed a sparkplug."
Jaclyn Johnson -- Freshman Forward who added a spark with 14 points
The Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center
Hibernation Blues?
Feeling S.A.D.
(Seasonal Affective Disorder)
Monday, January 26, 1998 7:00 p.m Pine Room. Kansas Union Facilitator: Rachel Lee, Graduate Assistant
Sponsored by the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center,
115 Strong Hall, University of Kansas.
For more information contact Rachel Lee at 864-3552.
928 Mass. Downtown
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