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THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
BIRDIE THE LAST
Golf team trying to earn NCAA Regional bid in tourney
CHRIS HYBL
chybl@kansan.com
When the Kansas women's golf team started its season, getting to the NCAA regionals was a clear goal. But now, the Jayhawks are sitting on the regional bubble and this week's Big 12 Championship is Kansas' only hope to get a regional bid.
"This one is more pressure because we are ranked higher than we have been in the past," said junior Meghan Potee. "Being right there on the bubble to getting an invite to regionals puts a little more pressure
on us."
The pressure is on the Jayhawks, especially with history considered. Kansas has finished in the bottom half of the tournament field eight of the nine years that head coach Erin O'Neil has overseen the program. The highest finish for the Jayhawks in that time period was fifth place in the '04-'05 season. Kansas has never qualified for an NCAA regional since regionals started in 1993, but Potee thinks things are changing.
"We have the best [team] we've had in years or ever since coach has been here." Potee said. "I think we
have a chance of playing really well. We've been playing real steady recently"
The Jayhawks are currently ranked No. 67, according to Golfweek. The total number of teams in the field for NCAA regionals is 72, but automatic bids can always sneak into the tournament from outside the top 72 teams.
"This year we're ranked really well, and we don't have to rely solely on Big 12s to advance on to regionals," senior Audrey Yowell said. "I think we're just going to go out there and treat it like it was any other tournament we are playing in
and try to keep the pressure off."
The Jayhawks have two wins to help their regional resume, but the Big 12 Championship is the key for the Jayhawks' postseason hopes. The pressure is inevitable.
"You have all the teams in the conference that are very good, solid teams. It's run at a high level. It's exciting, it's fun. There's more pressure," O'Neil said. "That's why were here, to compete and handle that kind of thing."
Kansas is coming off its best finish of the spring season, a second place finish at last week's Indiana Invitational. Leading the way for
Kansas most recently has been junior Thanatutta Boonrakasasat Boonraksasat has finished in the top five in each of her last three events.
"I just play a shot at a time and follow the plan I made during the practice round."
Cold weather is part of the plan for this weekend's championship at The Harvester Golf Club in Rhodes, Iowa. Snow is even in the forecast for Friday, when the tournament kicks off. The weather is projected to stay in the high-forty, low fifty range throughout the week, with the possibility of rain. But as O'Neil
puts it, that's nothing new for the Jayhawks.
"We've played in some very windy conditions and cold conditions and they've handled themselves very well throughout it all and shot good numbers," O'Neil said. "It's definitely helped their confidence. They've shown they can handle pretty much anything that gets thrown their way."
History is in the way of the Jayhawks though, and they will have to derail it for an NCAA regional bid.
STAYING AFLOAT
The Kansas' Varsity Four stretches their lead over Kansas State in their race Saturday morning at the 14th Annual Governor Cup last season. The Varsity Four would defeat Kansas State by more than nine seconds with a time of 7.38.4. Kansas State would defeat Kansas 16-14.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Six Jayhawk rowers receive conference academic medals
The Kansas rowing team will travel to California this weekend to compete against tough competition at the Lake Natoma Invitational, hosted by Sacramento State University and the University of California.
STELLA LIANG
sliang@kansan.com
The field is comprised of Kansas, California, Notre Dame, Sacramento State, Stanford, Tulsa, University of Southern California, Wisconsin and Washington State. USC is currently ranked first in the country in women's rowing, and California is ranked second. USC earned its ranking by claiming all 25 first-place votes on the coaches' poll released April 10, and jumping from sixth to first. Four other
teams, Notre Dame, Stanford, Wisconsin and Washington State, are also ranked in the top 20.
Recently, the Jayhawks have been competing well in the fours and second varsity eight. Last weekend at the Knecht Cup, the varsity four, the second varsity four and the second varsity eight boats earned gold in their respective grand finals. These boats qualified for the grand finals by doing well in the preliminary heats and semifinal. The varsity eight team placed second in its semifinal, and all other teams placed first in their heats and semifinals. These three teams also
Sacramento State will become a familiar foe for Kansas as its team is set to join Conference USA, which Kansas competes in for rowing, next season.
earned first place finishes April 6 against Indiana and Georgetown.
This week, six Jayhawk rowers were honored for their academics. Juniors Caty Clements, Jessie Jacob and Elizabeth Scherer and freshmen Lauren Miller, Morgan Thomsen and Kirsten Whitaker received the Conference USA Commissioner's Academic Medal. Recipients earned the award by having at least a 3.75 cumulative GPA. Kansas rowing competes in both Conference USA and the Big 12.
ACE
The Lake Natoma Invitalite will be held April 20-21 on Lake Natoma, in Gold River, Calif., at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center. After this weekend, the Jayhawks will have two weeks to get ready for the Big 12 Championship.
Edited by Tyler Conover
Kansas tennis tries to escape last place before senior night
TYLER CONOVER
tconover@kansan.com
On Saturday, the Big 12 will have only one tennis team without a conference win. Kansas and West Virginia are winless in Big 12 play, but the Mountaineers come to Lawrence on Friday to take on the Jayhawks, and the winner will be able to take a step out of the conference cellar.
Kansas hosted No. 29 Texas and No. 15 Texas Tech last weekend, but the Jayhawks were unable to get a much needed conference victory. Kansas subsequently extended its conference losing streak to 21 games.
For the Jayhawks, momentum will be important. Kansas has started too slowly in doubles play over the past two matches and has not been able to make up the lost ground in singles play. In order for this to happen, freshman Anastasija Trubica and senior Victoria
Khanevskaya will have to keep up their high-level of play. The duo
West Virginia comes in with a 4-14 (0-7) record, which is the worst in the Big 12, and
got the only doubles victories last week-end.
Khanevskaya
hopes to leave Lawrence with a conference win. For the Mountaineers to achieve this goal, they will need to duplicate the play of the Texas teams from a week ago and keep the Jayhawks grounded in singles play.
If Kansas is unable to best the Mountaineers, the team will have one last shot at breaking its losing streak on Sunday when Iowa State visits the Jayhawk Tennis Center on Senior Night.
If history is any indicator, then Kansas looks to be the favorite in
Sunday might have a little extra meaning for the two Jayhawk seniors, Monica Pezzotti and Victoria Khanevskaya, as this will be their last regular season matches in crimson and blue.
this match as the Jayhawks hold a 37-3 all-time lead in the series. However, ISU did manage to fend off Kansas in Ames, Iowa., last spring.
Friday's match is set to begin at 2 p.m., and Sunday's is set for noon. All in attendance will be given a free hot dog and chips to help celebrate the seniors.
ISU sits at 1-6 in Big 12 play with a 8-12 overall record. The lone conference victory came last weekend against WVU, and Kansas has an opportunity to put both schools beneath it in Big 12 play with a clean sweep this weekend.