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Show o. r MEN S TEN! S16 - The Daily Utah Chronicle Sports Openings Men's Tennis Is a Guessing Game Sterling Clifford Chronicle Sports Writer Forget all that crap about winning being the ultimate goal. Sometimes, losing has its advantages as well. At the beginning of the 1998 tennis season, there were plenty of comparisons being made between that year's team and the team before. Christian Svcns- Ute . ! " MKSNH-1 mmm' Til . r.'::xmm - son had just departed and the rhetoric about living up to his legend was flying thick and deep. The pressure was on last season for senior Paul McPherson and the rest of the team to play the best tennis of their lives. They didn't. McPherson finished with a .500 record in his last year of Utah tennis. The rest of the team didn't fare much better. Phil Rodrigue, who will be a senior this season and was expected to be a real contributor last year, finished only one win over .500 and has a lot of room yet to improve. Senior Alex Buxton will also be trying to improve on his 6 record. Ben Coates, the only other Ute to finish the '98 season with a winning record, finished with the best record on the Utah team at Coates was the shining exception on the team. Every Ute singles player began the season with a win but, with the exception of Coates, all finished the season with a loss. The Utes were supposed to be better. They were supposed to be in contention for a WAC title. Instead, they vanished from WAC Tournament play early and failed to make the NCAA tournament for the first time in five years. In fact, the only real team highlight from last season was an upset against BYU, one of the few they were not 8-- 10-- Philippe Rodrigue will battle for the No. 1 singles spot. 4. expected to do well against. So now the pressure is off No more trying to live up to what was accomplished last year; because nothing was accomplished last year. Now Utah's tennis players have the challenge of proving that the '98 season was a fluke or just a very long streak of bad luck. In a year where many of the sports programs at the University of Utah are rebuilding, the tennis team is not. Four senior? will be returning for the 1999 season, all with something to prove. Coates and Buxton, Rodrigue; Adam Eke all have the ability to have an outstanding season and will be ' counted on to do so. Without the pressure of any expectations, and knowing it is the last chance for much of the team to prove what they can do, Utah tennis could be a surprise force in the WAC. But without knowing for sure, it's just one giant guessing game for the media. And it's not like they had any 1,2 Close & FAMILY-ORIENTE- expect. AX '1! I? r C ' Ben Coates returns after being the most consistent Ute last season. He will like- ly take over at No. 1 singles for the departed Paul McPherson. LIVING! Affordable Rents Including Utilities and Expanded Basic Cable TV (RESIDENTS PAY TELEPHONE) Free Campus Shuttle On the Bus Line A Qreat Place to Live Apartments Courtyard and High-Ris- e For Waiting List and Rental Rate lnfof Please Contact Us. student apartments university Avenue East 1945 Sunnyside Lake Salt City, UT (801)581-866- 7 1 i Sf 3 BEDROOM APARTMENTS Playgrounds Visible from Each Courtyard Apartment Convenient Laundry Facilities uX ( Perhaps because of last season's poor performance, or maybe to avoid putting pressure on his team this year, coach F.D. Robins did not return several phone calls which requested interviews for this story. His staff was unavailable for comment as well. So tennis fans can only speculate. Nobody knows for sure what to to Campus 3 ' help either. D 1 O , University Student Apartments CONVENIENT UJ ' nnnn TOP University 0FUTAH |
