Improved tennis team set for season

The women's tennis team at the University of Kansas will try to incorporate new talent into the rotation to improve on its 2005 record. The KU lineup features six underclassmen out of nine athletes.

Not only is the roster filled with younger players, but with foreign talent as well.

Amy Hall-Holt, KU head tennis coach, said integrating the European talent with the United States and Canadian talent would help the team in the long run.

"Our team chemistry has come a long way. We're a united team and we're working hard," Hall-Holt said. "One of our goals for this semester is to make sure that we have the unity we need to keep on striving to make this program better."

Foreign Talent

The trend of bringing foreign talent to U.S. collegiate tennis teams isn't specific to the University of Kansas. As of February 22, 2006, 50 of the top 100 collegiate female tennis players list their hometowns outside of the U.S.

Photos by Justin O'Neal, Click to see the team lineup.

At the present time, it would appear that the influx of foreign players to KU is paying off. During Sunday's match between KU and Texas Tech, Ksenia Bukina and Elizaeta Avdeeva made up the top doubles spot and were number one and two respectively in singles action.

Bukina, Obninsk, Russia freshman, pulled out the victory in the one spot, while Avdeeva, Obninsk, Russia sophomore, suffered her first loss of the season in the number two spot.

Avdeeva fell behind early in the first set and couldn't overcome the deficit to lose 6-3. The second set went back-and-forth with several drawn out points, with Avdeeva falling 7-6.

"It was a tough match and I think I started to play a little bit late. My second set was better than my first," Avdeeva said. "I got beat, but I think I could have won my first set. Maybe I should have played smarter at the beginning of the first set."

Moving On Up

Improved teamwork and playing smarter could be a key to success for Kansas throughout the rest of the year. Bukina and Avdeeva swept their doubles match 8-0. KU's two other doubles pairs, Lauren Hommell with Edina Horvath and Christine Skoda with Brittany Brown, lost 8-3 and 8-4 respectively. Just one victory out of the number two or three doubles pairs would have given Kansas the win.

Ksenia Bukina and Elizaeta Avdeeva react to winning their doubles match 8-0.

Some coaching strategy may go in to the doubles pairings for KU down the stretch. The possibility of splitting up Bukina and Avdeeva to improve the chances of winning the doubles point may exist, but Hall-Holt said the coaches haven't even thought about mixing things up.

"They're doing a great job at one and they're competing. We just need to light a fire under two and three and get them going," Hall-Holt said. "Today two and three weren't out there competing, but for right now we're still keeping one together."

A new addition to the KU team should help the team be more competitive as the season drags on. The team now has an indoor facility to play in that's located in Lawrence. Over the past three seasons the team had to travel to Topeka or Kansas City to play or practice indoors.

Hall-Holt said the new facility would help the team feel as if they were playing true home indoor games. She also said the team would get the added benefit of being able to sleep in a little longer for weekend matches.

While Avdeeva didn't necessarily disagree with Hall-Holt, she said with a laugh that she only got 15 minutes of extra rest.