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Men's tennis looking strong, women's team is improving

The men's and women's tennis teams hit the road last weekend playing tournaments in San Diego and Ann Arbor, Mich., respectively.

The men's team played in the San Diego All-College Tournament last Friday through Sunday.

Sophomore Caleb Marquardt and senior Michel Stopa both had strong showings in the tournament. Marquardt, lost in the Flight One Singles Championships to Hawaii-Pacific's Eric Sandblom, 4-6, 1-6.

In the doubles tournament, Marquardt and Stopa were defeated by Hawaii-Pacific's Sandblom and Stefan Pampulou, 4-8.

"I am very happy with the way the team is playing. Both the doubles and singles play is very strong," UA men's head coach Bill Wright said.

Missing from the tournament was UA's top player, junior Alex Aybar, who competed in the 1999 Men's Reebok/ITA All-American Championships last week.

As for the women, they also played Friday through Sunday at the Wolverine Fall Invitational. The four-team competition featured teams from Texas A&M, Richmond and the host team, Michigan.

Sophomore Lindsay Blau and junior Michelle Gough lost for the first time in six matches on Sunday.

Blau, though, had a strong showing in singles play advancing to the quarterfinal round with a victory over Richmond's Jodi Kenoyer 7-6(7), 6-4. Freshman Uzma Khan won her singles bracket for the second tournament in a row.

"This was another weekend where lots of people were competing very well," UA women's tennis head coach Brad Dancer said. "I saw tremendous amounts of improvements. Our team is not capable yet of competing on the national level but continuing to improve."

The men will resume play on Nov. 4 at the Rolex All-American at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., while the women will take a couple weeks off before the ITA Regional in Irvine, Calif.