UA drops both doubles matches but still wins title

The UA women's tennis team claimed the Pac-10 title this weekend in California, accomplishing the feat for the first time in 10 years.

Arizona claimed the title, its first since 1993, by winning the most matches in the Pac-10 tournament held in conjunction with the Ojai Valley Tennis Championship in Ojai, Calif. The Wildcats were given the top honor despite dropping both of their doubles matches in the finals yesterday. The Pac-10 tourney is scored on an individual basis, and the trophy is awarded to the squad that wins the most matches.

"It's good for the school to be the one team that is the best out there," head coach Vicky Maes. "It's a nice honor."

The Wildcats sent two doubles squads into the finals yesterday. The No. 1 tandem of Emilie Scribot and Maja Mlakar dropped its match to California's Christina Fusano and Raquel Kops-Jones after advancing to the finals by defeating Washington's top pair on Saturday.

Arizona placed a squad in the finals of the invitational-draw bracket as well. Dianne Hollands and Kelly Perry advanced to the finals after handily defeating Ester Bak and Anna Leksinska of Oregon, 8-2, on Saturday. The duo did not fare as well yesterday, when they lost to Bernaditte Bayano and Melissa Esmero of Southern California, 8-5.

"Both teams could have played better," Maes said. "But they played teams that came out faster, a little bit quicker and just got behind early and couldn't get back."

Hollands and Debbie Larocque both contributed to the Wildcats' championship by winning their semifinals matches to advance to yesterday's finals in the back-draw. Larocque got there by defeating Claire Carter of Washington, 6-1, 6-4, while Hollands advanced with a victory over Washington State's Lorena Arias, 6-0, 6-3.

"Everyone played as well as they could; it's a singles tournament, which takes away the dynamics of the team," Maes said. "Everyone was happy to be there and everyone was in good spirits."

Maes attributed much of the team's success to her top two players. "Maya and Emilie contributed mostly to that," Maes said. "It's good to see them back in confidence, playing well."

Maes anticipates their confidence will continue during the NCAA tournament.

"It is good for them to go into the regionals with that kind of confidence," she said.

Arizona will now have a two-week hiatus to prepare for the upcoming NCAA tournament. Maes cautions that her Wildcats cannot become complacent with their conference crown.

"Once we hit the NCAAs, we'll be back to square one," Maes said. "If we play well we'll have a shot at it; it just depends (on) getting that first match (for us to get) back into the team competition after two weeks off."

Maes won the Pac-10 trophy in just her second year at the helm of the women's squad. The coach has been involved with Arizona tennis since 1994, when she began a playing career at UA that saw the native Belgian become arguably one of the greatest women's players in Wildcat history. Last year, in her first season as coach, she guided the Wildcats to a 12-11 record.