USD Women's Tennis 1998-1999

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1999 TORERO OUTLOOK

The University of San Diego women's tennis collegiate player to win the first three legs ended with program, with a pre-season ITA ranking of#33, enter her semifmal departure at the Rolex National Indoors in the 1999 season with the same optimistic outlook that February. has seen them advance to the NCAATournament eight Coach Stephens will count on the team's lone times since 1989. r===========~==- senior, Millie Prior, to give the Head Coach Sherri team both leadership and consistent Stephens, in her 15th season at the play in the bottom halfofthe singles helm of the USD women's tennis line-up. Last season she played a program, returns five letterwinners key role in some close team victo- from last year's squad that finished ries with wins at the No. 6 singles 12-9 overall and 31st in the final spot. · naitonalITArankings. TheToreros Sophomore Anja Tragardh earned their fourth straight trip to made an immediate impact on the the NCAA Tournament on the Torero program during her fresh- strength oftheir schedule, and with man season as she fmished with an quality wins over teams like North- overall singles record of 17-3 . This western (5-4), UNLV (5-4) and season she will play at the No. 2-3 San Diego State (5-4). In the first singles positions. Two other sopho- round of the NCAA's, USD fell to mores back that will see more play- San Diego State, 2-5. ing time than during their first cam- The season was highlighted paign include Krista Manning and

by the success ofsophomore Zuzana Lesenarova who was selected to participate in the 1998 NCAA Indi– vidual Championships at the University ofNotre Dame. After advancing to the quarterfmals ofthe NCAA Indi– vidual Championships in her freshman campaign, last sea–

Stacie Lee.

Coach Stephens has brought in four freshmen this season with two expected to crack the starting line– up right away. Katarina Valkyova (Bratislava, Slovakia) will play in the upper halfofthe singles line–

up, while Paola Arrangoiz (Mexico City, Mexico) will play anywhere between the 4-6 spots. Also joining the Torero squad are newcomers Heather Polumbus (Englewood, Colorado) and Erika Pyne (Gresham, Oregon). The Toreros schedule, which includes seven teams ranked in the ITA top-25, is again among the toughest in the country. After some tough road trips early in the season, the Toreros will return to San Di– ego to host two tournaments -- the USD Invitational (Feb. 26-28) with LMU, Furman and Long Beach State, and the USD Tennis Classic, an eight-team event that will include

son Zuzana made it to the semifi– nals. She finished with a singles record of35-8, a national ranking of No. 13, and with her second straight NCAAAll-America award. Coach Stephens' 1999 squad will be one ofyouth with the only two upperclass student-ath– letes being senior Millie Prior and junior Zuzana Lesenarova. With the team's pre-season ranking of No. 33, along with its typical strong schedule (seven top-25 teams and eleven teams ranked among the top-42), the Toreros expect to gun for top-25 recognition. Leading the charge will be Lesenarova who enters the 1999

the likes ofSMU, Washington State, Yale, Santa Clara, Cal, Fresno State, Michigan State, and Virginia Tech. This year's West Coast Conference Champi– onships will be hosted by Santa Clara April 23-25.

spring season ranked No. 1 in the nation. During the fall season she won the first two legs of the ITA Collegiate Grand Slam, winning both the T. Rowe Price National Clay Court Championship and the RivieraWomen's All– American Championships. Her bid to become the first