By Dave Msseemmaa
Associate Editor
Nobody knows what to expect.
After all, none of the nine Lady Apache netters have competed in the National Tournament, held the week of May 5 in Tucson, Ariz. before.
“They’re really excited about going to nationals,” said women’s tennis coach Steve Crick. “Motivation won’t be a problem.”
The women began team practices on April 9, though most of the athletes had began conditioning before team practices began. About half of the tennis players had been practicing throughout the winter about once a week, said Crick:
“None of them belong to a tennis club like up in Aurora, so we’re just relying on this next month to get us ready. When we start in the fall, we only have two weeks of conditioning and it’s usually enough. Even if they’ve had the winter off, they should be able to get themselves into pretty good shape in a month. Any more than that and I think they’d get bored.”
Many of the women tennis players have been practicing with the men’s team, who has lost only one match to date.
The men also have their eyes set on nationals.
“The outlook for nationals is positive, barring any injuries,” said men’s coach Eric Perez.
The men’s No. 1 singles player Chris Ford is ranked 28th in the nation in NJCAA D-I and D-II schools.The men’s team earned honarable mention on the NJCAA’s list of ranked teams.
“Having a fall season really helped,” said Perez. “A lot of the teams we played then are the same ones we’ll be seeing at nationals.
The women’s tennis team has two triangular practice matches planned for April. They are scheduled to face College of DuPage and Joliet Junior College. CoD and Joliet will be representing their respective regions in Division III at nationals.
Though nobody will know who they are facing until the seeding meeting in Tucson on May 5, Crick said the teams from the southern tier of the country have a huge advantage.
“The warm-weather states that get to play year-round, in all reality their probably going to be much better than the rest of us,” said Crick. “But if we go up against a team from a cold-weather state that plays their season in the fall like us, who knows what’ll happen.”
The women leave Illinois on Friday, May 4 and have a banquet scheduled that evening. May 5 is a day for relaxing, sightseeing, or last minute practicing for the hundreds of tennis players clustered in Tucson. Matches begin on May 6 in this triple-elimination tournament.
“That’s a lot of tennis,” said Crick. “(Our team) realizes it’s going to be hot and they’ll get themselves into shape for it.”