Feb. 11, 1997
No. 18 Cal Hosts Fresno State, UNLV
THIS WEEK: Feb. 14 FRESNO STATE BERKELEY 1:30 p.m.
Feb. 15 UNLV BERKELEY 11 a.m.
NEXT WEEK: Feb. 22 at Miami Coral Gables, FL 11 a.m.
Feb. 23 at Florida State Tallahassee, FL 11 a.m.
THE MATCH-UP: Coming of an upset of No. 5 Arizona, Feb. 1, the
18th-ranked California women's tennis team hosts No. 31 Fresno State, Friday,
Feb. 14, at 1:30 p.m. and No. 40 UNLV, Saturday, Feb. 15, at 11 a.m. The Fresno
State match was originally scheduled for Jan. 21, but was postponed due to rain.
THE LINEUPS: Seven Cal players are expected to see action this week. The tentative singles lineup includes; Amanda Augustus, Francesca La'O, Esther Knox, Claire Curran, Stephanie Tibbits, and Emeka Mayes or Lisa Swierniak. Expect to see teams of Augustus/Curran, La'O/Knox and Mayes/Swierniak in doubles play.
ARIZONA REPORT: On Jan. 31, in Tempe, Cal squared off against No. 16 Arizona State. Augustus dropped a close three-set match to Reka Cseresynes, who ranked No. 18 in the fall poll, 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(8). The Bears, however, picked up singles wins from Knox, Tibbits and Curran to enter doubles play tied at 3-3. Swierniak and Mayes came away winners at No. 3 doubles, but ASU won at both No. 1 and No. 2 to seal the win for the Sun Devils.
On Feb. 1, Cal rebounded from its loss to ASU by upsetting the No. 5-ranked Arizona Wildcats 6-3. Augustus dropped another tough three-setter to seventh-ranked Vicky Maes, but La'O beat No. 32 Karen Goldstein at No. 2 singles pacing Cal to a 4-2 lead heading into doubles play. Cal's combination s of Augustus/Curran and La'O/Knox came away with wins clinching the match for the Bears.
THE COMPETITION: Fresno State is currently ranked No. 31 by the ITA and is led by Dora Djilianova, who is ranked No. 25 on the singles charts. Cal leads the series with the Bulldogs 20-1 with FSU's only win coming in 1978. Fresno State is 2-2 on the year, 1-0 in the WAC, and 1-2 against teams ranked in the Top 40.
UNLV is currently ranked No. 40 by the ITA and is led by Marianne Vallin, who is ranked No. 4 on the singles charts. The Runnin' Rebels are 2-0 on the year, 0-0 in the WAC. UNLV will play against Stanford on Feb. 14 before meeting Cal on their Bay Area swing.
CAL IN THE RANKINGS: The Bears are currently the No. 18-ranked team on the ITA's Rolex Fall Rankings, released Dec. 10. Individually, Cal players rank as follows:
singles doubles
69 Amanda Augustus (so.) 12. Amanda Augustus (so.)/Francesca La'O (so.)
104(t) Francesca La'O (so.)
The ITA's Spring No. 1 ranking will be released in March.
THE COACHES: One of the Top 10 winningest coaches in women's collegiate tennis, Jan Brogan is in her 19th year as the Bears head coach with a career record of 342-139(.711). She is joined by first-year assistant Ann Henricksson, who spent more than 15 years on the women's professional tour.
