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Show 10 -- The Daily Friday, March 5, 1999 Utah Chronicle jtft rm Road Trip Gould Make or Break ITs Women Netters Eric Walden Chronicle Sports Writer Last weekend the Utah women's tennis team went on the road for the first time in 1999. Playing dual matches against Portland and Boise State, the Utcs were finally able to climb above 0.500. Victories by scores of 1 and 4 propelled the Utcs to a record of 3 on the year and extended their winning streak to three matches. However, whatever progress Utah made could quickly come undone-thi- s weekend. The road trip continues today when the Utcs travel to Columbia, S.C., to take on the No. 21 South Carolina Gamecocks. SC is undefeated at Half of its wins have come against top with No. 9 Wake Forest and 25 teams No. 23 Kentucky the victims. Things will be equally difficult for Utah thereafter. On Sunday, March 7, the Utcs head to Mobile to face to face No. 19 South Alabama. The Jaguars are 4 on the year, but all four losses have come at the hands of ranked opponents. No. 15 Pcpperdine, No. 38 Fresno State, No. 48 Florida State and No. 56 South Florida have all managed to trip up the Jags thus far. This will be Utah's toughest competition since opening the season against No. 32 Northwestern and No. 1 Florida. 8-- 4-- 4-- 0. 6-- Utah coach John Tsumas recognizes that his team will have to adjust to the talent level in order to have a chance to win. "The level of competition is going to jump up," said Tsumas. "Our play has to increase along with it. We need to keep the momentum we created last weekend." Utah has shown steady improvement throughout the season. While Megan Payne, the No. 52 player in the nation, is on a winning streak, her teammates have made solid contributions as well. Molly Sanderson, a stalwart in doubles competition, has begun to assert herself in singles play as well. She has played several times at No. 2 singles in recent matches and has more than held her own. Linn Ronnberg has shown occasional flashes of brilliance and merely lacks consistency at this point. The same applies to the other freshmen, Irini Kotoglou, Hillaree Hawkins and Brooke Wilkinson. Sophomore Heidi Thomas has also come on strong of late. Tsumas knows that in spite of the tough competition, his team has the talent to challenge its ranked foes. "We play two top-2- 5 teams on their home turf, we'll be fighting as the underdog," said Tsumas. "But we've beat South Carolina before and came close against South Alabama. We can compete with them." ch 1 szZyi Jeremy Killion and the Utes will play the Tulsa Golden Hurricane tonight in the MEN continued from page 9 point of the game," said Jensen. "We scored seven points all in a row and took the air out of their run." Miller scored 19 points to lead Utah while Mottola pitched in 14. Phil Cullen came off the bench to score 12. "What happened last year was my S 1 m 11 ( w V t Vf- - Funding is available for publications during the Summer 1999 to Spring 2000 A mm and the Utes will face two top-2- 5 opponents this weekend. The Wall Goes Up Today! Please Pardon Our Progress... academic year. Applications for funding are available from Cafe Construction begins TODAY and will continue until the year 2000. University Union Room 240 during business hours. Look for service in the Foreign Exchange and the Gazebo. Chick-fil-- A scored 22 against Fresno State, and senior forward Michael Ruffin, who doesn't score a lot but is a physical defender and one of the best rebounders in the conference. "It's going to be a tough game. They are physical and rebound as good as anybody in the WAC," said Miller. "It will be a defensive game." Tipoff is at 7 p.m. The winner will play Saturday night for the championship. MONIES AVAILABLE FOR STUDENT PUBLICATIONS V Molly Sanderson 85-5- Tournament. MONEY FOR PUBLICATIONS vv? ' fault," said Majerus. "I prepared the team for three games last year. This time we're playing like we have only one game. I was happy with the way the guys focused today." Utah now faces Tulsa, which sabotaged Fresno State 6 in the first game Thursday. The Golden Hurricanes shot an amazing 63 percent from the field and limited the Bulldogs to 37 percent. Tulsa is lead by Eric Coley, who WAC Menutainment coming soon... & Visit our display in the Union Terrace to find out more! Chartwells Serving you into the New Millennium Please note that priority will be given to printinglayout and mailing costs, and can ONLY be used for these purposes! DJ S'iN D Med |