2B
Tuesday, March 28, 1995
SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Kansas tennis fights for NCAA invitation
No.14 New Mexico to battle Jayhawks; revenge on its mind
By Robert Moczydlowsky
Kansan sportswriter
The No. 14-ranked New Mexico Lobo tennis team is in town, and it's out for revenge.
The Jayhawks say they've heard it all before.
"I'm sure they think that they are a better team than we are," Kansas men's tennis coach Michael Center said. "They have been looking out for us all season, and this one will definitely be a battle."
The men's tennis team will take on four-
time Western Athletic Conference champion New Mexico today at 2 p.m. at either Alvamar Racquet Club or the outdoor courts at Allen Field House. The match is scheduled to be played outside, but low temperatures and high wind may force the teams to play indoors.
The No. 12 Jayhawks already have faced the No. 14 Lobos once this season, earning a 4-3 win in Albuquerque, N.M., on Jan. 28.
New Mexico quickly rebounded and has posted some big wins over top 10 teams since then, and Center said that today's match would not be easy for Kansas.
"I don't know if two top-15 teams have ever played in Lawrence," he said. "This will not only be a great chance for people to see how we're playing, but it will be an opportunity for us to move up."
This New Mexico team has some great
wins, and they're a top team. We still need more singles consistency."
During spring break, Kansas was a team of contrasts, dominating opponents one day and then struggling the next. Center continued to toy with the lineup, and he said that although he was encouraged by the Jayhawks' play, he still was not content.
Kansas senior Manny Ortiz was a little more direct with his assessment of where the Jayhawks stand.
"Our loss to Boise State was the low point of the season," he said. "We're not panicking yet, but we really need to come out and play well. New Mexico has a lot of talent, and if we don't come out ready to play we'll get our asses handed to us."
Avoiding a loss and moving into the nation's top eight is the goal for both
The top eight teams in the final Rolex Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings automatically receive invitations to the NCAA Team Championships.
teams.
Teams in the top 16 receive NCAA Regional No. 1 seeds, but they are still required to qualify for the championship tournament.
"We need this win so that we can move up," Ortiz said. "I'd love to get into the top 10 or even the top eight to close out my senior campaign. But we have to remember that this match is about Kansas versus New Mexico.
"There'll be a lot of talking and pointing, but that's what college tennis is about. Last time we wanted to win more than they did. That needs to be the way we play this time too."
Sports facts
Kansas softball starts on road to recovery
Knight-Ridder Tribune/PAUL TRAP
Wins help team work through inconsistencies
By Robert Moczdylowsky Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas softball team traveled to the Pony Invitational in Fullerton, Calif. in search of the cure for its recent inconsistency.
"We're only 65 to 70 percent of where we should be right now," sophomore pitcher Tiffany Blood said. "We have a lot of potential, but we still need to put it all together — on offense and on defense."
What the team found was not the cure, but it started to relieve some of the symptoms.
The 11-5 and No. 16-ranked Jayhawks finished 2-3 in the tournament, posting some solid wins and playing well in their tight losses. Blood stressed that while the results were not impressive, both the team and coach Kalum Haack were encouraged by the team's improvement.
"Coach doesn't like to lose in anything," Blood said. "He wasn't happy that we lost, but it was reassuring to know that he saw
some good things in the games."
After being rained out against Cal St. Northridge, Kansas battled ugly weather and the DePaul Blue Demons. Kansas senior Lora Richardson swung a hot bat, and her two doubles sparked a 4-2 Jiahawk win.
Kansas' next opponent was No. 23 Washington. Kansas hung tough against the Huskies, but a seventh inning hit helped the Huskies take a 4-3 win.
Kansas then began to struggle, losing to No. 3 Fresno State 7-0 and No. 7 Cal St. Northridge 3-2. Kansas closed the trip with a 6-2 win over Georgia State.
"The Washington game was as intense as we have played all year." Haack said. "It hurt to lose that game, but I like the way our players reacted to it. I thought we had turned the corner. Then we came out against Fresno State really flat. We have to hate losing more than we do right now."
Kansas' upcoming schedule is full of games that the Jayhawks will hate to lose. Interstate rival Wichita State comes to Lawrence tomorrow, and Kansas opens Big Eight Conference play on Saturday against Missouri. Tomorrow's doubleheader begins at 3 p.m. at Jayhawk Field. The event is free.
Cowboys ride defense to Seattle
The Associated Press
Oklahoma State causing teams to shoot blanks
OKLAHOMA CITY — Last year, Oklahoma State had Bryant Reeves and Randy Rutherford in the lineup, just as they do now. They also had a player who went on to the NBA, yet they lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
So what is different this year that has pushed the Cowboys to the Final Four for the first time since 1951?
In a word, defense.
The Cowboys, which have a 27-9 record, have always been good defensively during Eddie Sutton's five years in Stillwater. As long as he's on the bench, his teams will concern themselves most with stopping the other team.
Last year's Oklahoma State team was good defensively, holding opponents to 41.4 percent shooting. But this year's team is even better.
Through 36 games, Oklahoma State has limited opponents to 39.1 percent shooting, the lowest during the Sutton era.
"I think it's mentality probably more than anything," assistant coach Sean Sutton said Monday. "With last year's team, they had
more of an attitude of 'If you score on us, we'll score on you.' This team's mentality as far as defense is concerned, they don't like anybody scoring on them.
"When their man scores on them, they really take it personally."
Oklahoma State opponents in the NCAA tournament have found that out. Drexel made just 25 percent of its shots in a first-round loss. Alabama, a team that had more quickness and athletic ability than Oklahoma State, was held to 36 percent shooting.
Wake Forest shot 40 percent, and star guard Randolph Childress didn't score in the final eight minutes. The Cowboys secured the victory with a defensive play, forcing Childress to turn the ball over in the final seconds. The turnover led to a breakaway dunk.
And in Sunday's East Regional championship game, the Cowboys forced Massachusetts into its worst shooting day — 16 of 58, or 28 percent — and its lowest point total of the season.
"Oklahoma State banged us and was physical and did the things they had to do to slow us down," Massachusetts coach John Calipari said.
The Cowboys had an outstanding backcourt last year in Rutherford and Brooks Thompson, a rookie with Orlando.
But neither Rutherford nor Thompson was a true point guard. The Cowboys have one now in Andre Owens, who along with distributing the ball and running the offense has developed into an outstanding defender out front. It was Owens who put the clamps on Childress in the final minutes of that game.
"I think he's one of the best defensive point guards in the country," Sean Sutton said. "He causes people fits. He's low to the ground, he's strong, he’s a bulldog. He just wears you down."
Forward Scott Pierce has also improved his game and gives the Cowboys a much better defender at that position than they had a year ago in Fred Burley.
During the last half of this season, sophomore Chianti Roberts has improved as well. Roberts is the Cowboys' most versatile player. At 6-foot-5, 220 pounds, he can defend most of the opponents' guards and forwards.
The younger Sutton said the members of this year's team are more comfortable in their defensive roles than a year ago. And they're all solid defenders not only as a unit, but individually.
"It's almost like they say, 'it's you against me, and I'm not going to let you score,'" Sutton said.
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