4B the university daily kansan
wednesday, october 22, 2003
sports
tennis
Tennis team travels to Utah for tournament
Coming off 10 days rest, the Kansas tennis team continues to display improvements under the guidance of coach Amy Hall.
"We have definitely made extreme strides." she said.
In early September, senior Emily Haylock reached the semifinals in Columbia, Mo., at the Missouri Invitational. Twelve days later, the Kansas doubles team of Haylock and senior Kristen Steinbock went undefeated in Tulsa, Oka., at the Polo Tennis National Collegiate Preview. At Flushing Meadows, Haylock and Steinbock finished second in the main doubles draw at the USTA College Invitaliator.
Hall said that Haylock and Steinbock had put the pressure on themselves.
"We give it our all," Steinbock said. "We are accustomed to each games."
The addition of assistant coach Troy Bray has also helped with the team's resurgence.
"He's very knowledgeable," Hall said. "He takes his time in working with the players and is very positive."
This week, the Jayhawks travel to Salt Lake City for the ITA Omni Central Region Women's Tennis Championships.
The tournament features more than 120 competitors from schools primarily in the Midwest. Teams include Utah, Boise State, Brigham Young and Utah State, as well as Big 12 Conference foes Missouri and Nebraska.
Singles qualifying matches begin today, and quarterfinals and semifinals take place on Saturday, and the championships are on Sunday.
Hall stressed the importance of this tournament.
"It can put us right where we need to be," she said. "We need to be mentally prepared and, more importantly, play against the opponents rather than ourselves."
Rahul Sharma
Kansas soccer looks ahead to busy break
By Nikki Nugent
nnugent@kansan.com
Kansan Sportwriter
While students take advantage of the free time that fall break provides, the Kansas soccer team will be hard at work.
The Jayhawks (12-4-1) sit in fifth place in the Big 12 with a 4-3-1 record.
Kansas takes on Big 12 Conference foe Oklahoma Friday at SuperTarget Field before traveling to Ann Arbor, Mich., for a non-conference matchup against the Michigan Wolverines.
Kansas junior defender Stacy Leeper said the team had done well up to this point in the season.
loss at Texas Tech.
"There's only one game we lost that we shouldn't have," Leeper said, referring to Jayhawks 2-3
The Sooners have proven what Kansas coach Mark Francis has said all along: Anybody can beat anybody on any given day.
Oklahoma 8-4-4 overall and 3-
2-3 in the Big 12, has had an
unsteady season.
The team's two conference losses against Texas A&M and Nebraska were predictable. A victory over Texas, the third ranked team in the Big 12, and a tie with the No. 12 in the nation Colorado, were surprising.
Oklahoma was unable to put away victories against two of the lesser teams in the Big 12 in Iowa State and Baylor, settling for ties.
The Oklahoma-Kansas series is locked at three aplece, with the Sooners owning the most recent
JUNIOR DEFENDER CARES ABOUT COMMUNITY HEALTH
Name: Stacy Leeper
Year: Junior
Hometown: Overland Park
High School: Shawnee Mission
East
Major: Community Health in the school of education
Position:
Defender
Favorite Class
at KU:
victory in last season's 2-1 finish.
The Jayhawks have a 3-0 advantage at SuperTarget Field.
Sunday's game is uncharted territory for the Jayhawks, Kansas and Michigan, 5-5-6 overall, have never met before. Michigan is the third of three Big 10 Conference opponents on Kansas' schedule this season.
The layhawks lost to Wiscon-
"Personal and Community Health" with Scott Ward. "He was a cool teacher and I enjoyed the
Leeper
subject matter of the class."
Nicknames: Schleep, Leep, Leeps
Favorite TV show: SportsCenter
Favorite Movie: "I don't watch a lot of movies. I can't sit still that long."
In her spare time: She likes to chat with people on the computer or play computer games and play cards with her neighbors.
sin and defeated Northwestern
already this year.
"We know the conference games are a big deal," she said, "but this is still a big game as far as NCAA's go."
Though the Jayhawks want a victory against the Wolverines, Leeper said the contest was not as important as a Big 12 match.
Michigan, a NCAA Tourna
ment team last season, is coming off a two-game win streak against Iowa and Central Michigan.
Friday's match against Oklahoma begins at 4 p.m. at SuperTarget Field. The Jayhawks play Michigan at 1 p.m. Sunday at UM Soccer Field.
Volleyball team comfortable on own floor
- Edited by Dave Nobles
By Mike Norris
mnorris@kansan.com
Kansas Sportswriter
As the halfway point of the Big 12 Conference season approaches, the Kansas volleyball team finds itself tied with Texas and Colorado for fifth place.
The Longhorns (10-7, 5-4) were picked to finish second in the Big 12 at the start of the season.
Despite not playing up to expectations, the Jayhawks aren't overlooking the team that leads the all-time series 15-2.
"We always feel comfortable on our home floor, but, yeah they are definitely a talented team, we can't take them lightly," senior outside hitter Abbie Jacobson said.
The Jayhawks (13-7, 5-4), have good reason to feel comfortable at home.
Their only two victories in the series with Texas have come in the past two seasons while playing at Horejsi Family Athletics
Center. Last year the Hawks swept the then-No. 22 Longhorns 3-0.
Kansas has also played well against the rest of Big 12 at home this year.
The team is 3-1 against conference foes at home, losing only to No. 8 Nebraska.
Kansas coach Ray Bechard said despite the recent success, the match would not be an easy one, even though Texas has had to deal with some early-season injuries.
"I think they're just finally settling into what their core lineup is," Bechard said. "I expect an extremely difficult match from a very physical, talented team."
The absence of freshman Jana Correa could make the match even more difficult.
one has been sidelined since Oct. 11 with an undisclosed injury. However, the Jayhawks have gone 2-1 without her, with wins over Iowa State and Oklahoma.
Kansas had to make offensive adjustments since Correa's injury, but her defensive position hadn't really been affected.
"I know that she brings a lot of energy to the court, so we kind of had to just each give a little more," Dorsey said.
If Kansas can beat Texas, and Colorado loses tonight at Missouri, the Jayhawks will be alone in fifth place in the Big 12.
Since the inception of the Big 12, no team has finished in the top five in the conference and not been invited to the NCAA tournament.
After tonight's match the Jayhawks travel to Boulder, Colo. to take on the Buffaloes.
Junior libero Jill Dorsey said
The match is scheduled to start at 8 p.m.
Volleyball Notes
Friday's match against Colorado was originally scheduled for Saturday, but a time change in the Colorado football game forced the volleyball change.
Kansas
sophomore
middle blocker
Josi Lima tussled
at the net for a
block against
lowa State on Frid-
day. Lima has a
total of 75 blocks
in her career.
Kansas defeated
lowa State 3-0.
The Jayhawks
take on Texas
tomorrow.
Sean Smith/Kansan
- Edited by Dave Nobles