Tennis follies Tennis follies (September 10, 2004)

St. Francis overwhelms Mountain View in non-league match

By Colleen Corcoran

"The best way to get ready to play matches is to play matches," said Mountain View head tennis coach Frank Smyth.

On Sept. 3, the St. Francis and Mountain View girls tennis teams stretched some pre-season strings at their first matches this season. Winning six of seven matches, the Lancers emerged victorious.

Following Lancer-dominated first sets at number-one and number-two singles, heat, fatigue and an hour of warm-up play leveled the playing field for the second sets.

During the number-two singles' first set, St. Francis' Sandyha Jacob dominated Mountain View's Gabi Kuftinec from the baseline with few unforced errors. During the second set, Kuftinec and Jacob exchanged breaks following the movement of a more erratic ball.

The final score: 6-2, 7-6 with Jacob winning.

Kuftinec expressed the common Spartan sentiment of the day as she exited the match. "I guess I just needed a little more time to warm up," she said.

In a baseline-driven, number-one singles match, Lancer Christa Artherholt appeared to control the depth and consistency of her game with a 6-2 first-set win but her Spartan opponent, Shaya Geuder, responded with a 7-5 second set rebound.

Warmed up by this time but lacking Artherholt's kick finish, Geuder fell to St. Francis 10-7 in the tiebreak.

"If we don't make basic mistakes, like double-faulting all the time on key points, and just keep the ball in play, we do okay," said St. Francis head coach Lynn Horiye.

At number-one doubles, Lancers Jaclyn Schlemmer and Michelle Watson took a messy, 6-4 first-set win, then used a serve and volley technique to sweep Spartans Samantha Huang and Emily Hung 6-0 in the second set. Huang, a former number-one singles player, has chosen to focus on doubles this season.

"We came out and everybody played hard, and that's all I can look for," Horiye said. "Mountain View is competitive. Everyone has players, and they didn't fall apart. They hung in there."

Both teams are focused on fine-tuning fundamental groundstrokes, volleys and serves during pre-league play. With few year-round players at either school, improvement will have to occur within the confines of the fall season.

"Tennis is a finesse sport where you need to stay sharp year-round," Mountain View coach Smyth said. "But players who are interested in improving really can make vast improvements during the season."

"I won't know for six weeks how well we can do this year," Horiye added. "Non-league matches are about development. Next week's going to be a lot harder."

When league play starts on Sept. 14, St. Francis will face Mitty, and Mountain View will play Santa Clara.

E-mail Colleen Corcoran at sports@mv-voice.com

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