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*B » The Red and Black • Tuesday, September 18, 1990
Championships head
back to Classic City
By RANDY WALKER
Sports Editor
They’re back.
Georgia’s Henry Feild Stadium
will again be the host to the Na
tion’s top collegiate tennis
players at the 1991 NCAA Men’s
Tennis Championships on May
17-26, the NCAA Executive Com
mittee announced afler its an
nual meeting in August.
Last year, the championships
were moved away from Georgia
for the first time since 1977 to the
Hyatt Grand Champions resort
in Indian Wells, Calif.
“We are very proud and hon
ored to be chosen as the hosts
again,” Georgia Tennis Director
Dan Magill said. “We received
overwhelming support to let us
have the tournament in 1991.”
The NCAAs in Athens from
1977 through 1989 were trade-
marked by the tremendous
crowds that made the tourna
ment one of the greatest amateur
athletic events in the country.
But it wasn’t until Georgia won
national team titles in 1985 and
1987 that coaches began to com
plain the host Bulldogs received
too much of an advantage playing
on their home courts in front of a
largely partisan crowd.
Southern Cal coach Dick Leach
has been the most outspoken ad
vocate of the tournament being
moved away from Athens. In
1987, afler his undefeated Trojan
It’s no fun to put on
the tournament if
some coaches are
going to gripe about
home court
advantage.
squad were upset by Georgia in
front of a boisterous crowd in the
NCAA semi-finals, Leach began
politicking for a site change.
“I think it’s the kids that
should decide who wins with no
outside interference,” Leach said.
“I would rather play in Siberia if
that’s what it takes to get the
kids to decide who wins. I just
don’t want to see my kids be sub
jected to 6,000 people routing
against them every year."
Leach succeeded in getting the
tournament moved from Athens
and to California in 1990, where
the event saw low fan support, an
occasional sand storm and little
atmosphere for college tennis.
Magill, although happy to host
the NCAAs anytime, is an advo
cate of a site rotation.
“I really think the tournament
should be alternated,” Magill
said. “It’s no fun to put on the
tournament if some coaches are
going to gripe about home court
advantage."
ADDITIONAL SECTION
OF
BALLROOM DANCE
PEB 113 A
5th PERIOD T - TH
(Limited Openings 4th Period, T - TH)
PEB DROP/ADD
Baron’s summer brings No.l ranking
Ivan Baron: The freshman Bulldog earned a wealth of
tennis experience this summer
By RANDY WALKER
Sports Editor
FLUSHING MEADOW, N.Y. -
Facing Fabrice Santoro of France
on Court 12 at the National Tennis
Center, Ivan Baron was feeling a
little nervous.
In his first round match at the
1990 U.S. Open, the new Georgia
freshman began the opening game
by committing two unforced errors
off his first two groundstroke at
tempts.
‘The first game of the match, I
was a little nervous,” Baron said.
“It was the first time I played in
the main draw of a Grand Slam
tournament.”
While Baron quickly overcame
his case of the Grand Slam jitters,
he didn’t overcome a case of San
toro groundstrokes. The passive,
deceptive, double-handed grounds
trokes of the 110th-ranked player
eventually wore down the Planta
tion, Florida native to a 6-2, 6-4, 6-
4 loss.
The U.S. Open marked
the end of an ardous
but successful summer
which earned him the
No. 1 world junior
ranking.
“I really thought I could have
done a little better,” said Baron,
who received a wild card into the
Open by the United States Tennis
Association (USTA). “I didn’t at
tack as much as I should have. I
should have pressured him a lot
more.”
Santoro, who advanced into the
the third round before falling to
seventh-seeded Emilo Sanchez of
Spain in five sets, didn’t feel pres
sured at all during the first round
confrontation.
“He played too much from the
backcourt,” Santoro said. “He
didn’t end the points that well. He
has a good backhand but he has to
come more to the net.”
With Mike Flanagan, Baron also
competed in the doubles draw at
the Open, but the duo succumbed
to Mansour Bahrami and Jean
Phillippe-Fleurian 7-6, 6-3 also in
the first round.
But the U.S. Open for Baron was
not a disappointment, it marked
the end of an ardous but successful
summer which earned him the No.
1 world junior ranking.
“I got a little mentally drained
out there,” Baron said. “It took a
lot out of me. I trained real hard
without taking too much of a
break. I was basically just happy to
make the main draw of the Open.”
Baron’s summer romp began at
the Omega Easter Bowl where he
triumphed in the finals over Will
Bull, another of America’s top ju
nior players. Baron then traveled
to Europe with the USTA’s Junior
Development team coached by
former tennis great Stan Smith.
Baron captured the coveted Italian
Open Junior title. He also reached
the auarterfinals of the Junior
Frencn Open and the semifinals of
Junior Wimbledon.
In early August, he and Bull met
again in the finals of the National
18-and-under Championships at
Kalamazoo, Mich, where the future
Georgia Bulldog and future
Clemson Tiger played one of the
greatest American junior matches
of all time. Afler over five-and-half
hours, Baron prevailed in a fifth-
set tiebreaker, and earned himself
the wild card entry into the main
draw of the U.S. Open.
“I knew it was going to be a real
long one. It was sort of like a
‘Rocky’ match,” Baron said of the
epic battle with Bull. ‘We just gave
it all we could because we both
wanted the wild card into the
Open.”
Prior to the Open, Baron was
also invited to play in a U.S. Open
tune-up tournament at the West
Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills,
New York, where the seventeen-
year-old drew tour veteran Robert
Seguso in the first round.
After defeating Baron 6-4, 6-2,
Seguso did cite some flaws in his
younger opponent’s game, but felt
he holds plenty of potential.
“He’s a pretty good player,” Se
guso said. “I saw he needs a little
more depth on the ball. I was just
stepping into the ball too easily.
But he’s young and he can adjust to
this level. He’s done well in the ju
niors, so he should do well in the
pros.”
However, unlike Pete Sampras,
Andre Agassi or Michael Chang,
Baron decided to try his hand at
college instead of risking an uncer
tain life as a tennis professional.
“I sat down with my father and
we talked about it, and I did want
the experience of going to college
and have a good time,” Baron said.
“I can work a bit more on the
weights and get a lot more practice.
I also don’t feel that tennis is my
whole life.
‘There’s a lot of pressure when
you turn pro, because you’re
playing for your life,” Baron said.
“You’re ploying on whether you are
going to eat dinner tommorrow
night sometimes. I’m young right
now and if I do decide to turn pro
I'll know that I’m ready to do it,” he
said.
Georgia coach Manuel Diaz be
lieves that Baron’s summertime
experiences will definitely help
him as he matures into a Bulldog
player.
‘The international array of expe
rience is going to be very benefit-
ical,” Diaz said. “He’s got a lot of
big matches under his belt and he
won’t be intimidated playing in
some of our bigger tournaments.”
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Jensen won’t return, Frosh wins Olympic Gold
JENSEN GONE
Afler being declared academically ineligible
for the upcoming Fall and Winter quarters,
Georgia’s All-American netter, Murphy Jensen,
opted not to return to Georgia for his senior
year. Jensen, a 1990 NCAA doubles quarterfi-
nalist with A1 Parker, transferred to Georgia in
1990 afler spending two years at the University
of Southern California.
RECRUIT MARIENCHECK WINS
OLYMIC FESTIVAL GOLD
Georgia freshman Bobby Mariencheck cap
tured the Gold medal in tennis at the U.S.
Olympic Festival in Minneapolis, Minn, earlier
this summer with a victory over Ari Nathan of
Los Angeles. The Memphis, Tenn. native, also
finished in the No. 9-12 slot at the National 18-
and-under Championships. Mariencheck, who
should end the year ranked in the top 10 in the
nation’s junior ranks, is very pleased with his
choice to attend Georgia.
“I had heard about the tradition at Georgia,
and everything about the school and when I
came down and visited I found this was defi
nitely the place,” Mariencheck said. “The team
and Coach (Manuel) Diaz are so great. Every
body seemed to be so welcoming. It was like
they really wanted me here as a person and a
player, not just as a player.”
WALLACE SIGNS TWO
Georgia women’s tennis coach Jeff Wallace
added some stock to his national powerhouse
squad as he lured Angela Lettiere and Laura
Kimel from Florida to his 1990-91 team.
Lettiere, a native of Vero Beach, Fla., was
runner-up in the Junior Open Division at the
Olympic Festival in Minneapolis, Minn, and
placed third at the Nationals in San Jose, Cali
fornia.
Kimel put together a 33-0 record playing for
Winter Park High School, in Winter Park, Fla.,
while earning a No. 4 ranking in the National
16-and-under division.
ALL MIXED UP
Georgia freshman Ivan Baron paired with
Lisa Raymond in the mixed doubles competi
tion at the U.S. Open where the duo fell to
eventual champions Todd Woodbridge and Liz
Smylie of Australia 6-4, 6-2 in the first round.
Lady Dog Shannan McCarthy teamed with
Netter Jensen was
academically ineligible to
return.
Malvai Washington also in the mixed doubles
tournament at the Open, defeating Roger
Smith and Katrina Adams in the first round.
The duo then fell to Woodbridge and Smylie in
the second round. McCarthy and former Dog
Stacey Schefflin were both eliminated in the
first round of qualifying for the singles event.
On the men’s side of qualifying, T.J. Mid
dleton and Stephen Enochs, 1989 graduates,
fell to Christiano Caratti of Italy and Nduka
Odizor of Nigeria respectively. George Bezecny,
NCAA singles finalist for the Bulldogs in 1985,
lost in the second round to Shuzo Matsuoka of
Japan. Chris Gamer, Bulldog All-American in
1988, qualified for the Open’s main draw where
he fell to Peter Lundgren in the first round.
— Randy Walker
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