Women's Tennis: Last home weekend for three key seniors


By Matthew Bassin
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Friday, April 8, 2005

Senior Day honors Hollands, Mlakar and Perry

The No. 50 Arizona women's tennis team has their last two home matches of the season this weekend.

They're one last chance for seniors Dianne Hollands, Maja Mlakar and Kelly Perry to play on the court they've called home for so many years.

"It's been great," said Perry, who is coming off her biggest win as an Arizona player against Stanford's No. 16 Erin Burdette. "I just hope I can win my last couple of matches."

The Wildcats face No. 21 Washington (12-7, 3-4) today at 1:30 p.m. and No. 68 Washington State (9-10, 0-5) tomorrow at noon.

Arizona (6-10, 0-5 Pacific 10 Conference) is just now recovering from its toughest stretch of the season.

The Wildcats have had to face the No. 1 Stanford, No. 5 USC, No. 12 UCLA and No. 17 California.

"It was a tough two weeks," said Arizona assistant coach Brian Ramirez. "But we have a real good opportunity here to get two Pac-10 wins."

The Huskies, who come off a 4-3 loss to Sacramento State, fell to Arizona earlier this season.

"They are looking very beatable," Ramirez said. "If we can win the doubles point, which is always critical, I like our chances."

The Cougars, meanwhile, come off a 6-1 win over Gonzaga.

"We need to take advantage of the fact that we are a better team than Washington State," Ramirez said. "We need to go out, be aggressive and take this match."

Ramirez said he wants his team to use this weekend as a momentum builder going into a match with in-state rival No. 27 ASU, who Arizona lost to 4-3 earlier this year.

The weekend also gives a chance for three athletes to punctuate their careers.

"Di is quickly approaching 100 individual wins, which is huge in college tennis," he said. "Maja has been very productive. She's beaten countless top-10 players and has accomplished more than most have in college tennis.

"Kelly is such a great college tennis player," he said. "We've gotten more out of Kelly than out of anyone else. She just doesn't back down."