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8 I Thursday, February 15, 2001 I The Red a Black
SPORTS
Tennis teams head to USTA/ITA Indoors
Men ‘have to
beat the best’
By LELAND BARROW
lbarrow@randb.com
With the top 12 teams in
NCAA Division I-A men’s tennis
playing in the USTA/ITA
National Men’s Team Indoor
Championships starting
Thursday, Georgia head coach
Manuel Diaz figures the
Bulldogs will face the ultimate
test.
“If we want to be the best, we
have to play the best ... and we
have to beat the best in order to
be the best,” Diaz said.
No. 4 Georgia (3-0, 1-0 SEC)
will begin its test on today at 4
p.m. by taking on No. 25
Washington. Since the tourna
ment is being played this year in
Seattle, Wash., the Bulldogs will
have to overcome an obvious
home-court advantage against
the Huskies.
“They have a lot of guys we’ve
never played against,” said Matt
Anger, Washington’s head coach.
“But I am hearing all kinds of
good things about Georgia.”
No. 1 Stanford, last year’s ITA
champion, is also in Georgia’s
half of the bracket. Along with
Stanford, the Bulldogs have the
potential to play familiar SEC
opponents such as No. 2
Tennessee, No. 9 Florida and No.
10 Ole Miss.
But the first matter of busi
ness for Georgia is to get past
Washington, which surprised No.
12 Pepperdine last week.
“We have it tough,” Diaz said.
“We play Washington, the home
team. But it is a great opportuni
ty to play some of the best teams
in the country that we don’t
have on the regular season
schedule.”
The matches against Georgia
State and Arkansas this past
PHOTOS BY STEPHEN JONES AND BECKY REID | The Red * Black
▲ Chad Carlson, left, and the men’s tennis team head to
Seattle, Wash., for the USTA/ITA National Indoor
Championships. Lori Grey, right, and the women’s team will
attend the championships in Madison, Wis.
weekend proved to be spring
boards for several Bulldogs in
the latest rankings.
The most impressive jump for
Georgia was the doubles pair of
sophomore Matias Boeker and
junior Travis Parrott moving to
the No. 1 spot in the nation. Bo
Hodge, the team’s freshman
standout, also improved his
ranking to No. 3 in singles, while
Boeker retained his top-10
ranking.
As the only team in the coun
try to possess four singles play
ers ranked in the top 25 and pin
ning down the No. 1 doubles
spot, Georgia looks to be a team
to be reckoned with in this tour
nament and the future.
“Stanford is already very strong
with lots of experience,” Anger
said. “But it seems like there are
more teams than ever this year
that can knock each other off.”
Though only three schools
outside of California have won
the tournament, the Bulldogs
said they are optimistic about
their chances.
If Georgia defeats
Washington, it will face the win
ner of Duke and Pepperdine. The
USTA/ITA Championships are
the last matches before the
men’s team gets geared up to
take on Georgia Tech in Atlanta
on March 3.
“We are all so excited about
Seattle and anything other than
a win out there will be a disap
pointment,” Hodge said.
Lady Dogs face
Baylor again
By HOLLY PALMER
hpalmer@randb.com
Though it would seem that the
Baylor Bears would not want to
face Georgia again after last week
end’s crushing defeat, it appears
the Bears are glutton for
punishment.
No. 2 Georgia (2-0) and 17th-
ranked Baylor most likely will face
off again this weekend as the
women’s tennis team heads to
Madison, Wis., to play in the
USTA/ITA National Team Indoor
Championships. The Lady
Bulldogs will participate in the 16-
team field, which features seven of
the top 10 teams in the ITA rank
ing and 15 teams from the top 50.
Georgia’s players and coaches
said they’re ready for this week
end’s tournament.
“(It’s) a nice change for our
first tournament away,” senior
Aarthi Venkatesan said. “We’ve
always had a great tournament in
Wisconsin.”
Head coach Jeff Wallace said
his team is prepared for the
match, although he ■ said he
wished Georgia hadn’t lost the
doubles point in last week’s 6-1
decision over Baylor.
“Next time I’d like to get the
doubles point,” Wallace said.
In previous years, Georgia has
done very well in the tournament.
Last year, the team progressed
to the semifinals before losing to
No. 1 Stanford. Until April 2000,
that loss was the team’s only
blemish in a 19-1 overall record.
In both 1994 and 1995, the
Lady Bulldogs won the tourna
ment. The 1994 victory was the
team’s first title win in the pro
gram’s history.
Freshman Gym Dog
sidelined with injury
By GENTRY ESTES
gestes@randb.com
Aches and pains continue to
affect the No. 4 Georgia gymnas
tics team.
Freshman Sierra Sapunar,
the No. 8 vault performer in the
country, is the latest to be side
lined with an injury.
Sapunar was diagnosed
Wednesday with a partial tear of
the ulnar collateral ligament in
her left elbow. She will be out of
action for four to six weeks.
“Losing Sierra is definitely a
big blow to our team,” Gym Dog
coach Suzanne Yoculan said.
“Sierra is a big contributor to
our team, who is capable of
putting up big scores on any
event at any given time. We hope
to have her healthy in time for
the postseason.”
The freshman actually hurt
her elbow more than two weeks
ago on a fall off the uneven bars
in warmups before Georgia’s
Jan. 26 victory over North
Carolina.
“I could feel that something
was wrong from the beginning,”
Sapunar said. “I just kept work
ing out on it, trying to do what I
could, but it wasn’t really getting
better.”
The recurring problems
caused Sapunar to get an MRI
on her elbow Monday, which
revealed a tear.
This isn’t the first time the
freshman has had elbow difficul
ties. She broke the same elbow
last season during training for
the U.S. Olympic trials.
Sapunar joins Gym Dogs
Kinsey Rowe (tom ACL),
Suzanne Sears (shin splints)
and Talya Vexler (back) as medi
cal casualties this season.
SPECIAL | The Red a Black
▲ Freshman Gym Dog
Sierra Sapunar will be out
for four to six weeks.
AILING GYM DOGS
Sierra Sapunar, elbow
Kinsey Rowe, tom ACL
Suzanne Sears, shin splints
Talya Vexler, back
Rowe, another freshman, tore
the ACL in her right knee a few
days before the team’s season
opening meet and was lost for
the year.
With No. 2 Alabama awaiting
Georgia in Tuscaloosa Friday
night, the news of Sapunar’s
injury comes at an especially
bad time.
“I’m really mad, because I
really wanted to beat Alabama
and I wanted help the team
out,” Sapunar said. “I’m going to
have to do it in a little different
way now — cheering everyone
on.”
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