UB ready for next step
UCLA awaits in opener of NCAA women’s tennis
By Amy Moritz
Updated: 05/08/08 10:09 AM
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- The UB women’s tennis team receives a warm send-off from fans.
When the selection show for the NCAA Division I women’s tennis tournament aired last week, the University at Buffalo team gathered to find out who and where it would play.
But behind them, it was standing-room only as players, coaches and athletic department support staff jammed in to celebrate thes moment in UB history.
UB has sent wrestlers, swimmers and divers and track and field athletes to the NCAA Division I Championships.
But never a team.
And that’s part of what makes Friday’s first-round match with UCLA a community event.
“I got a card from my dentist congratulating me and the program,” UB coach Kathy Twist said. “So it’s not just UB and the faculty, staff and students, who have been great, but the entire Buffalo community has really embraced and supported us.”
The Bulls have slowly built a solid women’s tennis team over the past few years. The senior class went from finishing sixth in the Mid-American Conference to second place finishes to being the conference favorite.
This year, it all came together with the MAC championship and an ensuing automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Bulls face a UCLA team ranked No. 7 in the country and long considered a national power at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. The match is expected to start around 4 p. m. after the completion of the other first-round match between Long Beach State and Denver.
“At this point it’s all mental and strategy,” said senior Tina Jacob. “How much can you improve in one week? We know we’re the underdogs. This week of practice has been a lot of fun. For us it’s been about spirit.”
“Whatever happens we can’t go wrong,” said senior Andreea Novaceanu. “If we win, we beat UCLA. If we don’t, we fought hard and figured out how to get here. We’ve then learned how to do it and what to expect. We’re charting a new course.”
Charting that new course has been a process since Twist arrived to coach the Bulls 12 years ago. She started out with UB in the Mid-Continent Conference and guided the program into the MAC. The last two seasons the Bulls went to the MAC championship match only to lose to Western Michigan both times.
This season, UB was picked first in the MAC preseason coaches poll and finally got over the Western Michigan hump, winning the title in Buffalo.
“We all helped the program but the program helped us develop too,” Novaceanu said. “It worked both ways. And there were so many people behind the scenes, in the athletic department and professors, who helped us get here.”
“It’s been a lot of little things every year,” Jacob said. “Kathy won MAC Coach of the Year [in 2005-06] because she’s worked really hard to make us stronger players. It’s a lot of little things that you break down and work on every day and that’s made a difference.”
While the technical skills that Twist has helped her players develop are the focal point of the team’s success, so too becomes the opportunity to enjoy the moment in the MAC Championship and NCAA Tournament sun.
She picked up a travel guide to Los Angeles and gave it to Jacob so that she and her teammates can pick out a few tourist spots the team will try to hit while in California.
“I tend to be serious-minded and I have to remember to have fun with this, too,” Twist said. “This is really a great opportunity for these kids. On the court, they have all the shots, it’s just learning how to use each one and knowing how to make the most of every shot. Against a team like UCLA, every shot counts.”
