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September 21, 2007 > Sports > Injuries plague the Owls, but experience keeps morale high

Injuries plague the Owls, but experience keeps morale high

By Rhodes Coffey | For the Thresher

Although their youth and lack of depth could present overwhelming barriers, the women’s tennis team will bank on their experience to lead them to success this year. The team, who featured no seniors on last year’s roster, will be returning the majority of its roster, including three seniors.

The Owls begin the 2007-08 season this weekend in the 27th annual Rice Classic, which will showcase many talented players from some highly ranked women’s teams. This long-standing tournament is strong in tradition and competition — in the past, there have been as many as seven players from the top draw of the NCAA tournament compete in the Rice Classic.

This is the first time in three years that the University of Texas will compete in the Rice Classic, alongside other returning squads, such as Baylor University and the University of Houston who will establish the eight-team field.

Baylor was most recently ranked 13th nationally and boasts the sixth best women’s singles player, Zuzana Zemenova. Similarly, the Longhorns earned multiple preseason rankings as the 27th ranked team, including three players being ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association top-100.

The tournament will take place at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium today through Sunday. Doubles matches will begin today at 8 a.m., followed by the first and second rounds of singles matches. Play will continue Saturday starting at 9 a.m. and ending in the early afternoon. On the final day, the championship doubles match will be played at 9 a.m. and the singles finals will take place at 10 and 11:30.

With ranked foes Baylor and Texas and a stacked field, this should be a tough draw. However, Rice has managed to pull many upsets in the past few years, including upsetting 52nd-ranked Southern Methodist University last spring.

After finishing last spring strong, the team seeks continued success after falling to the University of Memphis in the semi-finals of the 2007 Conference USA championships. Last year, the team finished 8-15 in dual matches, with a large majority of those matches being against ranked teams.

Unlike the spring, which is more rigorous and focused on the team, the fall season will consist of individually-based tournaments. Fall tournaments offer the players the chance to excel and gain national rankings with the opportunity to compete in national championships, such as next weekends All-American Tournament, where sophomore Julie Chao earned a Pre-Qualifying draw.

The Owls are fortunate that the fall season is less stressful, because injuries have taken a heavy toll on the roster. For the fall season, the team will consist of only seven players with five returners. Junior Emily Braid is currently out with a BLANK injury, and redshirt junior Dominique Karas is still dealing with a knee injury that has taken almost two years to overcome. Senior Kimberley Patenaude will also be trying to have her first full season since 2005 after returning from back injury.

But the team is looking past these injuries, and counting on certain members’ leadership to propel the team. By the end of conference play in the spring, the players chose Karas and senior Tiffany Lee as captains as a testament to their leadership on and off the court. Head coach Roger White said this year’s group is more mature than last years, which comes from the group’s excess of experience.

“The maturity level as a whole has been really nice to see,” White said. “[The women] pretty much have a unified goal of being the best they can be and working hard and training towards that goal in kind of a selfless commitment.”

One person who has been working hard all summer is Chao. Last year, the sophomore impressed the coaches with significant wins over ranked opponents in spring matches and earned a selection to the All-C-USA First-Team. Chao also took C-USA Freshman of the Year honors and recently became an academic All-American.

Two freshmen join the team with much praise from the coaches and returning players. Due to the lack of depth, freshmen Rebekka Hanle and Varsha Shiva Shankar will have an immediate impact this year. Hanle hails from Germany and has played in the WTA tournaments throughout Europe. Shankar, from India, also competed in the WTA and earned an international ranking as one of the best players in her region before coming to Rice.

Hanle said she is looking toward the opening of the season with optimism and a desire to achieve high goals set for herself and for the team.

“I think I have nothing to lose because I am new,” Hanle said. “I definitely want to be on the number one team in the conference this year.”

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