After a disappointing opening tournament, senior Dianne Hollands will be looking to rebound at the 2004 Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships today through Sunday.
This event, hosted by the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., will crown the first national singles and doubles titles of the season. The fields will be composed of 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams. More than 60 schools sent players to the pre-qualifying and qualifying tournaments leading up to the main draw, which features automatic qualifiers such as Hollands and the UA doubles team.
Hollands and senior Maja Mlakar will be the favorites in the doubles tournament as the top-ranked duo in the country. Hollands will be seeded sixth in the singles draw, which features 22 of the top 25 singles players in the country.
After falling in the second round of the singles tournament and quarterfinals of the doubles event at the Baylor Invitational Sept. 17-19, Hollands looks to regroup this weekend. She eventually settled for the singles consolation championship at Baylor.
"I definitely want some revenge," Hollands said. "I think it was good for me in a way because I got to play more matches in the consolation where I was dominating and got more confidence. It wasn't ideal, it wasn't what I was going there for, but I tried to make the best of the situation. I feel a lot more comfortable going into this tournament."
Head coach Vicky Maes said this is a "huge test" for both Hollands in singles play and for the doubles team.
"This is a big chance for both of them to get some really big wins under their belt and then feel pretty confident," she said. "In the big picture, the end result doesn't matter so much, but I'd like for them to get a couple good wins so that they get it in their heads early on that they can compete at this level and they're the best doubles teams in the country, and Dianne (Hollands) is certainly one of the best singles players."
After falling early at Baylor, Hollands said her doubles team needs this tournament to prove themselves to the rest of the country.
"I know that we can totally do it, it's just a matter of us pulling it together on the day," Hollands said. "I think we're looking forward to showing everyone and ourselves that we belong (at) No. 1. I know that in singles and doubles, if Maja and I come out firing, there can be some really great results for sure. It's just a matter of doing it and trying to enjoy it at the same time."