UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Fridav. April 26.1996
3B
KANSAS TENNIS
'Hawks strive to win tournament
Tennis teams look for championship in Kansas City, Mo.
By Spencer Duncan Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas tennis teams will try to prove that they are unbeatable in the Big Eight Conference today.
The Big Eight men and women's tennis tournaments begin today at The Plaza Tennis Center, 47th and Main streets in Kansas City, Mo.
The No. 12 men's team and the No. 18 women's team head into the competition having both won the regular season conference titles.
Today they want to prove that they deserve those titles.
"We were all very pleased with wining the regular season, but we would really like to win the tournament," Kansas women's tennis coach Chuck Merzbacher said. "We are working really hard to make sure we don't lose this weekend."
Both teams went undefeated during the regular season. The women went 7-0 and the men went 5-0. Kansas State and Iowa State do not field men's teams.
Because there are only five teams in the men's tournament, the men will receive a bye in the first round because they won the regular season title. They will play at 10 a.m. tomorrow, but they do not know who they will play.
Kansas men's tennis coach Michael Center believe his team will have great
"These guys have been working hard all season," Center said. "One of our goals all year has been to win the Big Eight and that includes the tournament. I think we will do well."
success.
Colorado men's tennis coach Ron Smarr said Kansas is the team to beat.
"Lots of things could happen, but Kansas may be the best team at the tournament." Smarr said. "They are good enough that they could afford for someone not to show up and they would still play well. Most teams cannot do that."
The women will face Missouri today at 1 p.m. and will head into the competition with something to show other teams.
"We kind of want to prove ourselves." Kansas sophomore Christie Sim said. "We really want to prove that we
deserved to win the regular season."
If the women win then they play at 2 p.m.tomorrow against the winner of the Colorado-Kansas State match.
"It's in our own backyard," Merzbacher said. "We should have lots of friends and family there and that could help give us a lift."
With the tournament being played in Kansas City, Mo., the teams were relieved they did not have to travel far. That could be an advantage.
The championship matches will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m., and both teams have every intention of playing in them.
"We won the regular season so we should be able to win the tournament," Sim said. "We want to play in the championship match, but we also want to win it."
Tennis teams have bit of a dynasty brewing
Men, women notorious for talent, toughness
By Spencer Duncan Kansan sportswriter
Steve Bietau is getting tired of the University of Kansas.
Bietau, the Kansas State women's tennis coach, has increasingly become frustrated with Kansas during the past five years.
K-State has never beaten the Jayhawks in 20 years of competition.
"They are such a good team," Bietau said of the Kansas women's tennis team. "They have a lot of good talent and they seem to get better every year. They are a hard team to beat."
But the women's tennis team is not the only tennis team at Kansas that has been hard to beat the last few years.
In the last five years, the No. 12 men's tennis team and the No. 18 women's team have dominated the Big Eight Conference.
"Kansas is one of the best teams in the country," Ron Smarr, Colorado men's tennis coach said of the Kansas men's team. "They are a team that is very tough to play."
Both enter the Big Eight tennis tournament today as regular season Big Eight champions.
The women have won the regular season five consecutive times and the men have won the title three consecutive times.
"It is amazing what this team has done," Kansas women's tennis coach Chuck Merzbacher said. "Winning the last five titles has been an amazing accomplishment."
Kansas men's tennis coach Michael Center is also proud of his team's effort.
"These guys work hard all the time to be the best," Center said. "Our ultimate goal is to do well in the NCAA tournament, but first you have to play well in your conference. This team has been doing that."
In their five year title run, the women's team has compiled a 46-1 conference record. The reason for the amazing run depends on who you ask.
"We work well together," Kansas sophomore Christie Sim said. "We have great team unity that has helped us a lot."
Merzbacher has other ideas.
"We play some of the top ranked teams in the country in our nonconference
"It is amazing what this team has done. Winning the last five titles has been an amazing accomplishment."
Chuck Merzbacher Kansas women's tennis coach
schedule," Merzbacher said. "That really helps us prepare for the conference. If we can play with those top teams then we should do well in the conference."
Playing the tough nonconference schedule has helped the team earn a No. 18 national ranking. Other schools notice that ranking and Kansas' success.
The Jayhawks have not lost a conference match in three years and have earned a No.12 national ranking.
The men's team is having just as much success as the women.
"These guys work hard," Center said. "We play a tough nonconference schedule and we have proven to be one of the better teams in the country."
"They have proven to be the best team
Smarr agreed that Kansas is one of the best.
He has been disappointed that his team has had to play them every year.
"Kansas is one of the best teams in the country," Smart said. "They could easily be a top five team. I wish we didn't always have to play them because they have great players that they always replace with better players."
Both teams hope they can win the last Big Eight tournament this weekend. For them it would be a successful finish to a great run.
"This program has a lot of pride in it, and the players carry that pride every year," Merzbacher said. "Hopefully after the weekend is over we can show why we have so much pride."
Osborne says he feels bad about release
Patriots no longer interested in services of Christian Peter
The Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne expressed sadness Thursday for defensive lineman Christian Peter, whose signing rights were released by the New England Patriots.
Three days after drafting him in the fifth round of the National Football League draft, the Patriots released their signing rights to Peter because of what it said was his unacceptable conduct.
Peter has served probation for third-degree assault of a former Miss Nebraska and has also been arrested on suspicion of disturbing the peace, trespassing, urinating in public, refusing to comply with the order of a policeman and third-degree assault for threatening to kill a parking attendant.
"I feel badly that the Patriots apparently did not have all the information about Christian that we thought was public knowledge," Osborne told reporters.
Tom Osborne
"We never withheld any information from anybody. Apparently the (latest) deal in Kearney hurt him, but we had people tell us he never touched the young woman," Osborne said referring to a March 6 disturbing the peace incident in Kearney.
"For three years he stayed away from alcohol," Osborne said. "We made him take treatment and he knew if he violated that, that would be it."
Osborne said Peter apparently thought he could go back to drinking now that the national championship was out of the way.
"We really feel terrible about that," he said.
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