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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2011
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TENNIS
junior Ekaterina Morazova (right) gives her partner freshman Dylan Windom (left) a high-five. The duo enters the ITA Regional tournament in Oklahoma this weekend, hoping to snag a snaag to the National Championships tournament.
CHRIS BRONSON/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Doubles pair fight for national championship spot
CORBIN MIHELIC
editor@kansan.com
Senior Ekaterina Morozova and sophomore Dylan Windom will experience a role-reversal this weekend when they travel to the ITA Regional tournament in Tulsa, Okla.
A week ago, the duo made a surprising run to the quarterfinals of the TTA/Riviera All-American Championships after being the first Jayhawk tennis players invited to the tournament's main draw since 1990. This weekend, however, Morozova and Windom enter the tournament as the top-ranked doubles team in the central region.
"I think it's a little more pressure, but I think we're ready," Morozova said. "We are both really excited to go there."
Morozova and Windom won their first two matches against teams from Pepperdine and
The winner of each regional will qualify for the National Indoor Championships Nov. 3-6 in New York City.
Virginia in the All-American Championships before being ousted in the quarterfinals by the third-ranked Florida duo Sophie Oven and Alli Will. 8-0.
"They held their own with Florida," coach Amy Hall-Holt said. "The games were very close, even though the score didn't look like it." Regional play will begin Thursday and wrap up Sunday.
"I wouldn't say we put any more pressure on ourselves just because we did so well at All-Americans," Windom said. "People expect us to do well. Anybody can get beat on any given day, and we proved that at All-Americans."
While Morozova and Windom spend their weekend in Tulsa, the rest of the Jayhawks will stay in Lawrence to compete in the Kansas Invitational, which runs from Friday to Sunday.
Victoria Khanevskaya won the KU Invitation's "White" singles draw in 2010 and hopes to defend her title this year. Khanevskaya, a junior from Moscow, Russia, will also play doubles this weekend with sophomore Amy
Barnthouse.
"I expect a lot from myself," Khanevskaya said. "The previous tournaments were like practice matches and this is the last one before the spring season, so I expect a lot. I expect myself to be in the final."
After this weekend's tournaments, the team will take a two-month hiatus from competitive play. The spring portion of the season begins in Honolulu, Hawaii, with the Hawaii Invitational Jan. 12-14.
Coach Amy Hall-Holt said most of the winter offseason workouts are individually oriented, and players spend much of their time working out specific weaknesses.
"Each day we keep preparing what our goals are for this off-season and we try to accomplish those goals as we go on," Hall-Holt said. "We look forward to coming back in January having completed those goals to go to Hawaii."
— Edited by Jonathan Shorman
MEN'S BASKETBALL
After four years of practice, Teahan ready for bigger role
Senior guard Conner Teahan slams a dunk down during warm ups before the scrimmage at Friday's Late Night in the Phog at Allen Fieldhosue. Teahan is entering his final season and hoping for the plaving time.
The guard expects more playing time in his fifth season
KORY CARPENTER
kcarpenter@kansan.com
CHRIS BRONSON/KANSAN
It's been four years at Kansas for guard Conner Teahan, but he says it feels like two. The former walk-on, now a scholarship player, is entering his fifth and final season as a jayhawk.
He holds a finance degree and is working on a second in accounting. He was offered scholarships from many other schools in football and basketball while playing at Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Mo., but he just wanted to be a Jayahawk.
He accepted a walk-on position from Kansas and received an athletic scholarship last season. Teahan said last year was a blur and this season, his last, will surely be the same.
He has faint hopes of playing overseas next year but admits he'll probably have to find a "real job" and wants to stay near his hometown of Kansas City. But for now, he just wants to play basketball, and he wants to be a contender.
"I've never been a big 'you help the team win in practice' type of guy," Teahan said. "Yeah, we prepare people for the game and everything like that, but I want to be out there on the court scoring points and getting stops."
Luckily for Teahan, his last opportunity for playing time comes in a season where coach Bill Self might have no choice but to rely on the former walk-on. The ineligibility of freshman guard Ben McLemore as well as mass departures from last year's team have handcuffed some of Self's flexibility on the perimeter, possibly opening a slot for Teahan. Gone are Josh Selby, Brady
Morningstar, and Tvrel Reed.
"You're losing Tyrel, who has probably made as many big shots as anybody has for us period." Self said.
On Morningstar, Self added,
"People take him for granted, but
you're losing your best perimeter
defender, your best passer, your
best ball mover and your best percentage three-point shooter. That's a lot."
Somebody has to fill those shoes. It's worth noting that in six of the last seven seasons, Self had five guards average at least 10 minutes a game. With Tyshawn Taylor, Elijah Johnson, and Travis Releford as
near locks for the rotation, that leaves three scholarship players to fill those last two potential spots: Conner Teahan and freshmen Naadir Tharpe and Merv Lindsay. Four years experience could give him a leg up on the freshman, and Teahan likes his chances.
"As of right now, definitely," he said when asked if he'll play significant minutes this year. "I think that I will, but at the same time I don't even think about that. I just think about practicing as hard as I can and hope that it all works out. I'm hoping this year it will."
Edited by Lindsey Deiter
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