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JACOB KONST/Arizona Daily Wildcat
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Debbie Larocque returns a serve last week against Southern California. Larocque and the Wildcats look to snap a five-meet losing streak against Fresno State tomorrow.
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By Roman Veytsman
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Friday, March 26, 2004
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Following the theme of the season, the Wildcat women's tennis team is once again coming off a long break from competition - two weeks, in this case - to face No. 13 Fresno State and No. 21 Tulane at home tomorrow and Sunday, respectively.
"I think with all the tough matches that we've been having lately, we're more prepared to play this weekend," said junior Diane Hollands. "I think everyone's excited and we're a lot more fresh coming out of spring break."
Arizona (4-7, 0-3 Pacific 10 Conference), ranked No. 36 overall, will try to upset two higher-ranked teams; but in order to do so, the Wildcats need someone other than Hollands to step up. Hollands won her matches against Texas and USC, moving to No. 21 in the nation.
"The main thing we learned from the last five matches is that we can compete against tough teams," assistant coach Petar Danolic said.
Fresno State is led by No. 17 Jelena Pandzic, who has yet to lose a singles match this year. Pandzic is 12-0 this season, defeating the No. 1 player in the country, Raquel Kops-Jones of California. Pandzic and Lucia Tallo also make up the country's No. 44 doubles team and pose a threat to the No. 7 team of Hollands and junior Maja Mlakar.
"I think all eight of us have to step up," Hollands said. "When we all come together as a team, we do so well."
Tulane (14-1) brings eight veterans to Tucson. The Green Wave have four ranked players and two ranked doubles teams, led by No. 41 Julie Smekodub.
The Wildcats played Tulane in 2001 in their last and only meeting, beating the Green Wave 5-2.
"Everybody needs to step up a little bit, but especially at the bottom of lineup," Danolic said. "I think Kelly Perry has been doing well for us. We've been rotating three girls around at the bottom of the lineup between Kasia Jakowlew, Jessie Rochefort and Iza Ferreira, so those girls need to step up."
