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THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SUNFLOWER SHOWDOWN
Looking for a conference win
TYLER CONOVER
teacher@kennedy.com
tconover@kansan.com
For the Kansas tennis team, this weekend's match up against No. 50 Kansas State just got a bit more important. As of Wednesday morning, the Jayhawks were ranked No. 74 and had an 8-3 (0-1) record.
However, when the team takes the court Saturday at 1 p.m. against the Wildcats, the Jayhawks will need to be looking to get more than just interstate bragging rights. A conference victory will be of at least equal importance. If Kansas hopes to win the Big 12, starting 0-3 in conference is not the way to do it.
K-State has a 6-10 record and is also 0-2 in Big 12 play, and while that record looks unimpressive, it is not the one that matters most. 4-0 is the record that shouts the loudest. That is K-State's record in the last four meetings between the two, and the Wildcats have won eight of the last 11.
In order for Kansas to break the four-game losing streak, the team will need to get back to its winning ways in doubles play.
Like most things in life, that feat is easier said than done as K-State boasts the No. 37 ranked doubles duo in Petra Niedermayerova and Karla Bonacic. While K-State has highly ranked players, the Jayhawks duo of Paulina Los and Maria Belen Ludueña have nine wins in 12 doubles matches this spring.
TYLER ROSTE/KANSAN
Singles play on Saturday is shaping into the main attraction a K-State has the No. 11 singles player in Niedermayerowa, but Kansas just got back from a road trip to Oklahoma State in which Maria Jose Cardona beat the No. 60 ranked singles player in the country, Malika Rose, (6-4, 3-6, 10-8). Also during that trip, freshman Anastasia Jaquila Trubica lost her second match of the spring. Look for her to bounce back, after her first loss, she got a win in her next
Claire Dreyer quickly moves to save the ball from hitting the ground. The Jayhawks are currently 8-4.
full match out.
The winner of the match will earn its first Big 12 win of the year, and for Kansas it would break a four game winning streak by K-State.
TENNIS
- Edited by Megan Hinman
TYLER ROSTE/KANSAN
Junior Paulina Los swings to hit the ball during a tennis match. They Jayhawks have list four times during the spring season
Road trip exposes Jayhawks
tconover@kansan.com
TYLER CONOVER
After coming off a road trip in which the Jayhawk tennis team won all three of its matches, Kansas traveled to Stillwater, Okla., on Wednesday to take on No. 25 Oklahoma State.
This trip, however, did not end in victory. The team lost 6-1—its fourth loss of the spring season—and in the process, got swept in doubles play for just the second
time all spring. Kansas won at least two of three in its last three matches in double play.
The lone point of Wednesday's match came from freshman Maria Jose Cardona. She needed three sets to best the No. 60 ranked singles player in the country, Malika Rose, a senior from OSU (6-4, 3-6, 10-8). Also, for only the second time of the spring, freshman Anastasija Trubica lost a singles match.
Other than the victory by Cardona, the only bright spot of the road trip was the experience Kansas received from playing a highranked team on the road.
The loss leaves Kansas with an 8-4 record and will likely take away the jayhawks recently earned ranking in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association polls Kansas went into the match rank of No. 74.
Edited by Elise Reuter
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TOURNEY TALK
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wichita State's Malcolm Armstead shoot to shoot during practice for a West Regional semifinal game in the NCAA basketball tournament in Los Angeles, Wednesday, March 27. Wichita State is scheduled to play La Salle Thursday.
La Salle, WSU not mid-major
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Wichita State and La Salle busted a few brackets with their early wins in the NCAA tournament. Now they're in the final 16 and playing a short drive from Hollywood. Just don't script their matchup as a meeting of underdogs.
These guys think they've got a lot of credibility, even if large chunks of the country didn't pay them any attention until now.
The ninth-seeded Shockers (28-8) and No. 13 Explorers (24-9) meet in the second West Regional semifinal on Thursday night at Staples Center, where Kobe Bryant of the Lakers and Blake Griffin of the Clippers can usually be found changing outcomes with last-second jumpers or highlight-reel dunks.
"The beautiful thing about the NCAA tournament is to see great teams that you don't see every night and to see different players that you might see some day at the next level," La Salle coach John Giannini said.
Ramon Galloway of La Salle couldn't resist creating some of his own NBA-style moves at the end of Wednesday's open practice. The senior guard, one of four Philadelphia-bred players on the team, showed off what he called "dunk-contest dunks."
"When the game time comes, if I can get a fast break, hopefully I can show the world what I can
"We didn't have that support all year," Galloway said. "When you do stuff and people get to see you, then they actually praise you. I'm just glad that we've got the opportunity to play on national television, in front of everybody, so everybody can see what La Salle stands for."
And the Explorers will have to beat another one to continue their tournament road trip that began 2,754 miles ago in Dayton, Ohio, where they won a play-in game against Boise State to get into the NCAAs. Then they took out Kansas State and Mississippi by a combined four points in Kansas City, and haven't been back to Philly since.
do," he said.
“If we would have gone home, we might have lost focus just enough to slip up a little bit,” guard Tyreek Duren said.
Indeed, their city has embraced the team. The 76ers posted a good luck message for the Explorers on the video board at Wednesday night's game that was greeted with an ovation.
The Explorers and the Shockers have proud pasts in the tournament; they occurred just long enough ago to have fallen off the current radar. La Salle was the 1954 national champion; Wichita State made the 1965 Final Four.
The Shockers did return home after their upset of No.1 seed Gonzaga last weekend.
"We're not rags to riches," said Giannini, whose Ph.D. in kinesiology earned him the title of Dr. in front of his name. "Maybe people are surprised we won three in a row. But we've beaten good teams all year."
"The community was very excited,
but it was just a regular basketball game for us," guard Malcolm Armstead said. "It proved a lot to the country and also to ourselves, but it was just something that we had to do."
La Salle plays in front of a few thousand at its home games; Wichita State draws more than 10,000. The Shockers travel by private plane to their away games and coach Gregg Marshall hops one on recruiting trips.
"Instead of a school bus, they're more like Ferraris and Jaguars," he said. "They go pretty fast."
In between coaching his team, Marshall is practically moonlighting for the chamber of commerce "spreading the good word about Wichita and Wichita State University" as he put it.
No more so than for Ron Baker, a freshman guard whose 16 points, including four 3-pointers, helped the Shockers beat Gonzaga. He returned for the Missouri Valley Conference tournament after missing 21 games with a left foot injury.
"We've had our share of great basketball" he said, ticking off famous players like Dave Stallworth, Xavier McDaniel and Antoine Carr. "It's all coming together for us again."
La Salle will get some size back and rebounding help when 6-foot-11 center Steve Zack returns Thursday after missing the previous six games with a sprained foot.
"I've said many times if Ron Baker were a stock, you better get in now," Marshall said.
"He can play if he feels well enough and we put him in there," Giannini said, "so that dramatically changes things."
Only one of these smaller schools gets to move on to a stage usually dominated by the bigger schools, and Galloway isn't sure why the matchup needs sizzle to sell.
"We're basically two of the same teams. We're both going to go out there and play hard," he said.
"They've gotten great wins to get here. We got great wins to get here. If you look at our track record that should speak for itself. We're in the Sweet Sixteen. You've got to watch everything."
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