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Show P j " fennis Team Defending League Champs tennis team has lost some good talent. Last year's number two singles man Jim Foulger quit the squad while the fifth and sixth singles players Rick Ben-nion Ben-nion and Skip Sedivec were lost by graduation. Attempting to make up for the loss of these top netters are squad members Gordon Baum-bacher, Baum-bacher, Harold Sears, and Steve Greenhalgh. Baumbacher is a senior who starred for Salt, Lake's East High several years ago while Sears and Greenhalgh are up-and-coming sophomores. OTHER WAC teams figuring to be tough are BYU and the two Arizona teams. BYU has practically all last year's team back plus a couple of top-flight transfers. Do the names Harvey Bottleson, Bill Fort, Carlos Sen-del Sen-del and Terry Ehlers ring a bell? They were the core of BYU's tennis team last year and return this year. versatile tennis player and can play in any spot. Coach James has had Mike play number two and number three singles and he's equally valuable in both positions. Last season, Martines was number three singles and won most of his matches. He could move up to number two this season. He and Osborne are the Utes' leading doubles tandem and finished second last season in the WAC finals. Martines played at East High, was undefeated as a junior and ,.r BACKMAN : 8!'MA;ch Harry James C tPam on thuat ' 'eI,mS they'll face the 'f'Sk of pending SS-es is opti- i'tf Some's to de-A de-A S WAC tennis ' e ILeh to come out E$ because Scraied with good notably Bngham senior, and won two state singles championships. Now he's in the big lime and complements Osborne's Os-borne's serve with competitiveness competitive-ness and scrapiness. ROSS, FROM Norway, won the WAC number four singles but will probably move up this season. Wherever he does play, Jon Ross makes the Utes competition com-petition for anyone in any tournament. There are others on the squad with more glory (Osborne (Os-borne and Martines among them),' but few on the Redskin tennis squad are more reliable when that match-winning game is needed. Jon-Erik is the Mr. Consistency of Utah tennis. Also on the team is ski jumper Frithjof Prydz, a countryman of Ross. Prydz, known as "Bassey" to ski and tennis mates alike, was on the tennis squad two years ago, but did not compete last season. He's competing this season, however, and his presence pres-ence is welcomed by coach James, who could use Bassey's strength and courtmanship. THOUGH THE core of the team is coming back, the Ute Of course, the "big gun" of the tennis team is junior Jim Osborne who has to be ranked as one of the best netters in the country. Last season, this Honolulu, Hono-lulu, Hawaii shotmaker won the WAC number one singles crown by defeating Arizona's Fred Drilling and that victory was no fluke. As a freshman, two years ago, he gave Arizona's Bill Lenior a run for his money during dur-ing the WAC singles finals but lost. So, Jim's only a junior but he's been to the WAC finals twice already. Few others in the nation can make that statement. AFTER DEFEATING Drilling, Osborne went to the NCAA semi-finals where he faced eventual collegiate champion Arthur Ar-thur Ashe of UCLA. A collapsed lung finished Osborne after he played Davis Cupper Ashe to a standstill, but Jim established himself as one of the best in the tournament. The rankings list Jim as number num-ber 21 among the amateurs, but he has an excellent chance - to move up, especially if he runs true to form and wins another WAC championship. He must be favored once again. Few tennis players anywhere any-where have the big serve that Jim has. RIGHT BEHIND Osborne are Mike Martines and Jon-Erik Ross. Martines, especially, is a i V f i 4 U Y f'-" 1 if? ' . rS Jim Osborne ,, top Utah player . . . Norwegian Ute V J ' ::''"V ' ; I J 'IX I 9 ; Mike Martines . . . senior tennis star |
