Tennis teams head to Pac-10s with different outlooks

Arizona Daily Wildcat UA senior Stephanie Sammaritano waits for a return during a match last season. Both UA tennis teams will compete at the Pacific 10 Conference Championships starting today in Ojai, Calif.

The women's team sees the Pacific 10 Conference Championships as an opportunity to have some fun while the men are just trying to extend their season for as long as they can.

"It's nice to have a chance to just go and play other people where there's not the pressure for the team," said UA head coach Becky Bell of the annual individual tournament that is held in Ojai, Calif.

The women are eagerly awaiting for Monday's announcement of whether they are among the 10 teams selected for an automatic bid to nationals, or if they will have to make it via one of the six regional sites.

The men, however, don't have the luxury of relaxing during the competition because of the 11-match losing streak they bring into the event.

"We just hope that we still have a chance to get into regionals," said junior Jerome Oliveri, who will play Stanford's Ryan Wolters today. "We know that if we do well, it will show the UA is a good tennis program."

Head coach Bill Wright said the team has a slight chance of making a regional, but the only way the selection committee will consider them is if their results at the Pac-10's are good.

Each team in the conference, including the Washington and Oregon schools which are not part of Arizona's conference schedule, are represented in the four-day tournament.

The single-elimination competition, which concludes Sunday, is divided into two flights - flight one is for the top three players from each team while flight two is for the rest - for both singles and doubles play.

Singles action starts today at 8 a.m., with the doubles beginning tomorrow.

Arizona receives a point for each match it wins, with the team receiving the most points from singles and doubles combined winning the tournament.

Arizona's top women's player, Vicky Maes, will meet USC's Jacqui Boyd tomorrow. Meanwhile, senior Henrik Wagner, the men's No. 1 player, has a 9:30 a.m. matchup with Grant Elliot of Stanford.

"It's really neat because Ojai is such a small little baby town," junior Betsy Miringoff said.

"It's kind of like the little Wimbledon that takes over the whole city."

Although the women are relaxed, a few of them may be playing with a little more heart than others.

"It's an important tournament for people who really need to have a good tournament to maybe get into individual nationals," Bell said. "I don't know if Steph (Sammaritano) or Khristen (Pietrucha) have a chance of getting in, but if they have an unbelievable tournament then maybe they would have a chance."

With matches going all day, the UA men and women will have the rare opportunity to watch each other.

"It's kind of nice to be able to see the (guys) play and have them come and see us play," Sammaritano said. "We don't get to have that support during the year because we play at the same time in different cities."