 |
|
JACOB KONST/Arizona Daily Wildcat
|
Senior Kelly Perry returns a serve in singles competition during Friday's (5-4, 0-1) loss to defending national champion Stanford.
|
|
|
By Matthew Bassin
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
Print this
The No. 49 Arizona women's tennis team is energized and ready to go.
After two disappointing matches over the weekend, Arizona (5-5, 0-1) plays its in-state rival, the No. 28 ASU Sun Devils (3-3, 1-2) today at LaNelle Robson Tennis Center at 1 p.m.
"We have a strong chance of beating them," said senior Kelly Perry. "We've had a good record against them in the past."
Perry, who graduates in May, said she would love to beat them one last time before she does in fact graduate.
The Wildcats have made a few changes to their doubles lineup, which helped them achieve something few teams have done this year in defeating the national champion Stanford team for the doubles point last weekend.
The Wildcats dropped Perry from her No. 2 doubles spot and paired with her No. 3 partner from last season, sophomore Jessie Rochefort
"The changes we made are going to stay," said assistant coach Brian Ramirez. "We put Kelly back with her playing partner from last year, Jessie (Rochefort), and they seem to be comfortable."
"I love playing with Jessie," Perry said.
While the doubles point has not been the problem for the Wildcats, consistency from number one through six is what's troubling the coaches.
"It takes time to understand how to really compete," Ramirez said. "They all have the physical ability, but you also have to emotionally invest in what you want to."
According to Ramirez only some of the girls are doing this, and some have yet to figure it out.
"All the girls are working hard," Ramirez said. "That is obvious. Kelly's playing excellent tennis right now. Di (Dianne Hollands) is playing some of the best tennis in the country. But the mental aspect is hard for some to figure out."
Head coach Vicky Maes, who is celebrating a birthday this week, said it would be a great present for her if her girls beat ASU.
Arizona needs this win to halt its five-game losing streak.
