UA women’s tennis head coach Vicky Maes wants her athletes to close out matches after they jump out to big leads.
At this weekend’s Miner Invitational in El Paso, Texas, Arizona freshman Jane Huh did just the opposite – and came out with a win.
In her NCAA debut, Huh bounced back from an early first-set blunder Friday to defeat Ana Cecillia Trevino of Monterrey Tech, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Her ability to compartmentalize highlighted a weekend of overall sluggish play, Maes said.
“”There were some really good matches and some really mediocre ones,”” she said. “”There’s really no reason why things were different.””
The extra pressure of the season’s first tournament, along with soreness from conditioning, could have played a role, Maes said.
In doubles play, Huh and senior Camelia Todorova defeated Natalie Araya and Anna Djananova of Lee College 8-5. Later on, the pair lost 8-5 to Zeljka Juricek and Paulina Zuniga of New Mexico State.
Saturday’s singles play opened with Huh’s 6-1, 6-1 victory over Juricek and ended with a defeat to UTEP’s Weronika Bloczynska, 6-3, 6-3. Todorova lost her opening match Saturday to
Monterrey Tech’s Ana Paula de la Pena, 6-0, 7-5.
Huh and Todorova finished third place in their flight after defeating UTEP’s Bloczynska and Megan Pritchard 8-4 on Saturday.
Arizona concluded tournament play yesterday with a split of singles battles. New Mexico State’s Anna Fagegaltier defeated Huh 0-6, 6-2, 10-2 for third place in flight one, while Todorova beat Marjorie Ondeck of Memphis 6-3, 7-5.
“”Overall, it was good for me to see where they need to work,”” Maes said. “”I’m pretty pleased.””
At the Bulldog Invitational in Fresno, Calif., Arizona sophomores Natalia Toporowska and Katie Orletsky met the goals and expectations set forth by UA assistant coach Brian Ramirez, despite disappointing mid-tournament losses.
In Friday’s first-round singles action, Toporowska defeated San Jose State’s Dana Popescu 6-3, 6-0, and Orletsky beat San Jose State’s Jen Williams 6-2, 6-2.
Both athletes fell in round two – Fresno Pacific’s Angie Minova defeated Toporowska, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, and Nevada’s Caroline Bailey defeated Orletsky, 6-0, 6-3.
Ramirez Orletsky showed great improvement against Bailey, the tournament’s fifth seed.
Orletsky defeated San Jose State’s Sanda Hadzisabic in the consolation bracket 6-2, 6-2 to end Friday on a higher note for Arizona.
Ramirez said he saw continuous progress throughout the weekend in singles play, as both sophomores are on the right track. Both players showed focus and understood what they had needed to do to improve, despite a lack of execution, he said.
Orletsky and Toporowska missed opportunities in a 9-8 loss to Pacific’s Arens Svenja and Sasha Fisher on Friday, Ramirez said, attributing the poor play to a lack of doubles practice.
Ramirez said a clear focus could help improve individual play.
“”The focus is the execution, and I definitely saw that,”” he said. “”We laid down an outline for the goals, what we wanted for the weekend, and I think they very much met the goals for the weekend in what we set forth for them.””
Toporowska returned Saturday to defeat Pacific’s Jolanta Twarowska, 6-4, 6-3, but withdrew from second-round play due to sickness.
Orletsky concluded Arizona’s tournament run with a lose to Santa Clara’s Myra Davoudi, 6-3, 5-7, 10-8.
Ramirez said both athletes continued to play with a strong focus on improving particular areas of their games.
“”It was a very good weekend overall,”” he said.
