THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
SPORTS
FRIDAY,APRIL 27,2007
7B
TENNIS
(CONTINUED FROM 1B)
tight three-set match. After she won the first set, Smith struggled in the second, but rallied in the third to take the match, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Smith's victory gave Karnas their third and final point of the day.
The loss ends a disappointing season for the Jayhawks, but afterward, Coach Hall-Holt was anxious to talk about the future.
"We got everybody back next year and were adding a few to the lineup," Hall-Holt said. "I told the girls that we have to start tomorrow getting ready for next year."
In a season that will be remembered for its close losses and the team's miragd of injuries, Hall-Holt said there is one thing she will remember about this team. "They never let up," she said, "They had a lot of heart."
Kansan sportswriter Rustin
Dodd can be contacted at
rdodd@kansan.com.
Tennis doubles give nail-biting performances
-Edited by Trevan McGee
TIE-BREAKERS
NSAS CITY.Mo.
They make fans'
best at a little
He is best a little bit faster. They make a few more drops of sweat trickle down an athlete's face We've all seen them or played in them.
They're the moments of the game, meet or match where everything matters.
Thursday at the Big 12 Championships, two of Kansas' matches came down to one of these moments: the tie-break.
A good tie-break to decide the outcome of a match is as exciting as any other pressure moment in sports. It's in basketball when Sherron Collins goes shoeless and still drives for the game-winner against Missouri. It's in football when Todd Reesing burns his red-shirt and scurrils across the field to evade Colorado's umpet bid.
The tie-break has the same bite-your-nails tense feel. The concept for one is simple; score seven points and win by two before your opponent does.
It didn't take long for one of these moments to take place. Elizaveta Adeveha and Edina Horvath played back and forth their entire doubles match against Oklahoma's Gabby Baker and Irina Lykina. They went up 6-4 before Baker and Lykina tied it back up. Then they went up 8-7 and had a chance to serve for the match. Baker and Lykina wouldn't let them win.
Let the tie-breaker begin.
BY MARK DENT
Well, sort of. Avdeveva and Horvath's rackets didn't start moving for a while. Horvath drilled a shot right in to the net. Lykina nearly ripped Avdeveva's head off with a forehand. All of a sudden, Lykina and Baker had a 4-0 lead.
Anyone who follows Kansas tennis knows this isn't a good sign. Avdeeva and Horvath have to win. Not should. Not ought. They have to win. The Jayhawks haven't won a match as a team this season when they didn't win the doubles point.
BY MARK DENT
KANSAN COLUMNIST
MDENT@KANSAN.COM
Aveeva must have known this, because the momentum immediately changed. She started executing
and Baker did the exact opposite: she made an error. After a seemingly endless rally, Baker hit the ball into the net. She hit it long. She hit it long again. It was 4-4.
Baker and Lykina won the next point. Avdeeva and Horvath then tied it up 5-5. Now this was really one of those pressure-packed moments. The rush-hour traffic on Cleaver Boulevard was stopped so passengers could watch. People stopped walking on the sidewalks to peer inside the chainlink fence.
Athletes can either melt under the pressure or live up to it. Avedeva lived. Baker melted. Avedeva ripped a serve in the middle of the box and Baker tapped it back into the net.
On the next point, Horvath and Baker battled against each other on the baselines. Finally, Baker pushed a forehand long. Kansas won the doubles point. The Jayhawks' chances for advancing looked good.
But college tennis matches are really long. There's always plenty of time for redemption. Players who mess up in doubles can think about it for a while and make up for it later on in their single match.
Kansas and Oklahoma had played even in the rest of the singles matches. The team score was 3-3. Avdeeva and Baker battled on center court to determine which team would advance to the second round.
Like their earlier doubles match, it was back and forth. Baker jumped out to an early lead in the first set. Avdeeva broke her and led 5-4, but Baker came back to win the first set 7-5.
The second set was almost opposite. Avdeeva led early but had to come back to tie the second set at 6-6.
Let the second tie-break begin.
Baker won the first couple points but Avdeyea answered back. The score was 3-3. It was one of those moments again. With all the other matches finished, both teams swarmed around center court. Fans whispered to each other, realizing the importance of each point.
Avdeeva hit a serve long. Fault one. She hit her next one into the net. Double fault. On the next point, Baker rifled a forehand winner. Avdeeva made another error. She was down 6-3. One more mishap and the match was Baker's.
Avdeeva and Baker each hit the ball a couple times to each other before Avdeeva finally missed. Game, set and match Oklahoma.
Avdeeva walked to the bench. Her teammates console her. Baker yelped out a cheer — she was soaking in the moment.
Kansan sportswriter Mark Dent can be contacted at mdent@ kansan.com.
Edited by Kelly Lanigan
MLB
Schilling's bloody sock rumor recirculates in Baltimore
BY JIMMYGOLEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON — No paint, no ink, no ketchup.
Nothing but Curt Schillings blood was seeping through his socks in the 2004 postseason, current and former Red Sox said Thursday after a rumor resurfaced that the pitcher milked his injury for drama while helping Boston end its 86-year title drought.
On Wednesday, Baltimore announcer Gary Thorne said during his broadcast of the Red Sox-Orioles game that Boston backup catcher Doug Mirabelli admitted it was a hoax.
"It was painted." Thorne said. "Doug Mirabelli confessed up to it after. It was all for PR."
Thorne backed off Thursday after talking to Mirabelli before the Red Sox played the Orioles. Thorne said Mirabelli had been ioking.
"He said one thing, and I heard something else. I heard what I
said", Thorne said. "Having talked with him today, there's no doubt in
"He said one thing, and I heard something else. I reported what I heard and what I honestly felt was said."
GARY THORNE
Baltimore announcer
reported what I honestly felt was
my mind that's not what he said, that's not what he meant. He explained that it was in the context of the sarcasm and the jabbing that goes on in the clubhouse.
"I took it as something serious, and it
wasn't, thorne said.
Mirabelli confirmed the story.
saying, "He knows that I believe 100 percent that I thought the sock had blood on it. It never crossed my mind that there wasn't blood on that sock. If he misinterpreted something said inside the clubhouse, it's unfortunate."
Mirabelli said he spoke with Thorne in the Boston clubhouse about six months after the 2004 playoffs.
"As he was walking away he asked, 'How about the bloody sock?' I said, 'Yeah, we got a lot of publicity out of that, and that was all he can recall me saying.' Mirabelli said. "He said he assumed what I meant was that the sock was fake and that it was just
a publicity stunt. That by no means is what I meant. There was never a doubt in mind there was blood on the sock."
After an ankle injury hampered Schilling in Game 1 of the 2004 AL championship series against New York, team doctors jury-rigged a tendon in his right ankle to keep it from flopping around. With blood seeping through his sock, the pitcher came back to beat the Yankees in Game 6.
The Red Sox completed an unprecedented comeback from an 0-3 deficit to reach the World Series, and team doctor Bill Morgan repeated the procedure before Schilling's
Game 2 start against St. Louis. Boston beat the Cardinals en route to a four-game sweep and its first championship since 1918.
The bloody sock has become symbolic of Boston's comeback, and the Red Sox don't take kindly to those who question its authenticity.
Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said the team "would not dignify (Thorne's) insinuations with extensive comment ... other than to remind everyone that we remain steadfastly proud of the courageous efforts by a seriously injured Curt Schilling - efforts that helped lead the Red Sox to the 2004 World Series championship."