Tennis to Play in San Diego for Final Fall Tournament
Preview Videos Coach Hall Holt | Wilbert |Pezzotti
Nov. 3, 2010
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Sunny San Diego will be the site of Kansas tennis’ final tournament of the fall 2010 season, as the Jayhawks are set to participate in the San Diego State Fall Classic this weekend. Starting Friday, KU will face a tough field of competitors over three days of play, going up against SDSU, San Diego, UC Irvine, Washington and Auburn, who will join the Jayhawks as the only other non-West Coast participant in the event.
For the first time since the season-opening KU Invitational the entire starting lineup will be together on one court. This tournament will also be the team’s first road trip together this season, as the Jayhawks have been forced to split up during the last month of play with conflicting Intercollegiate Tennis Association events. Regional qualifiers Ekaterina Morozova, Erin Wilbert, Sara Lazarevic and Monica Pezzotti were all absent from the second KU Invitational two weeks ago, instead taking on the Central Region’s best down in Fayetteville, Ark. Morozova and Wilbert also bypassed Notre Dame’s Eck Classic early in October when they were selected to participate in the ITA All-American Championships in Los Angeles.
Now with the team back together, doubles play is expected to be a strong point this weekend. While Wilbert and Morozova have been KU’s top doubles team over the last season, two other teams have emerged this fall in Lazarevic and Pezzotti and Victoria Khanevskaya and Kate Goff. Lazarevic and Pezzotti have been instantly successful in just their first season as doubles partners qualifying for regionals, while Goff and Khanevskaya swept through their flight at the Eck Classic for their first main draw win.
Khanevskaya has played especially well in both doubles and singles. In each of the three events the sophomore has played in this season, she has made it to the finals of her singles flight and recently broke through with a win in KU’s second tournament. A tough three-set win over Oklahoma’s Brittany Parks gave Khanevskaya her eighth singles win of the fall, and just two losses blemish her record.
The event begins Friday morning at the Aztec Tennis Center and concludes Sunday afternoon. The Jayhawks will then begin preparation for spring dual match play.
