Women's tennis opens spring with victory in own tournament

Ryan A. Mihalyi Arizona Daily Wildcat UA junior Vicky Maes stretches to return the ball to her Mississippi State opponent Saturday at Robson Tennis Center. Maes, who is battling an arm injury, is ranked seventh in the country.

Arizona opened spring play with a 3-0 record this weekend when it hosted the 1997 Wildcat Invitational. In three days of competition, the Wildcats only suffered one singles loss, a 6-4, 6-2 match on Friday in which Illinois' Allison Gottlieb defeated Wild cat newcomer Anne-Laurence Bilenne.

Arizona's victories this weekend mark the third consecutive season the Wildcats have swept opponents in the Invitational.

Arizona's singles wins were important to the team because the Pacific 10 Conference home opener this weekend is against Stanford, a team UA has not beaten in the last couple of seasons.

"It was important for us to have some matches in a team situation under our belt going into Stanford and (California) Berkeley this weekend," head coach Becky Bell said.

The round robin-style tournament, which began on Friday, featured Illinois, Mississippi State, and Texas Christian.

The Wildcats outlasted two rain delays yesterday to beat Texas Christian in the Invitational's final game. Arizona swept the Lady Horned Frogs 6-0. The teams opted not to play doubles due to a time constraint for Texas Christian.

After losing the first set 4-6, senior Khristen Pietrucha rallied to defeat Lucie Dvorakova 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 between weather breaks.

Arizona narrowly defeated the Fighting Illini on Friday, 5-4. Arizona won all but one of its singles matches but were not as strong in doubles. Junior Vicky Maes and Bilenne, the first-seeded doubles team lost, 8-6 and Arizona's third doubles pair, sopho more Monique Allegre and Pietrucha lost, 8-5. The 16th-ranked doubles combination in the country, sophomore Karen Goldstein and senior Stephanie Sammaritano, did not play doubles on Friday.

The Wildcats, however, knew they were a better team and came out Saturday with much more intensity, shutting out Mississippi State, 9-0.

"Overall we did the fundamental things a little bit better in terms of serving better, returning better and looking to be more aggressive," Bell said.

Maes, the seventh-ranked player in the country, defeated the Lady Bulldogs' Nathalie Odryzynski in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. Despite her victories this weekend, she is not happy with her singles play so far this season.

"I have so many injuries and I'm trying so many different things," said Maes, who has been hampered by arm injuries since last year. "Taking risks sometimes makes you lose a couple points that you normally wouldn't lose."

Bilenne won her first dual match on Saturday. After losing the first set 6-3, Bilenne rallied back to defeat Nicole Reboul, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

After being shut out in doubles play on Friday, the Wildcats won all three doubles matches against the Lady Bulldogs. Allegre and Pietrucha led the Wildcats, winning all eight games in their shutout of Mona Bhuta and Reboul.

"I was a lot more happy with the doubles play today (Saturday)," Bell said. "It's only our second match of the season. We still have a lot of work to do, but as long as we're learning every step along the way then I think this team has a chance to make so me improvements."