Members of the men's and women's tennis teams got their first chance to test themselves against national competition this weekend at the Clay Court Nationals in Baltimore, Md. The results were mixed, but left both coaches with optimism about their teams' chances in the coming year.
Sophomore Dimitry Muzyka finished the best of the Blue Devils in the tourney. Muzyka lost in the first round of the main draw to third-seeded Frederick Giers of Fresno State, but rebounded in the back draw with three straight victories before falling in the back draw finals to Michael Russell, 6-3, 6-2.
"That was a really tough draw for Dimitry," men's head coach Jay Lapidus said. "Giers is a really strong player."
Lapidus noted that with three wins in this tournament, which is the first Grand Slam event this year, Muzyka should vault himself into the top 20 in the men's tennis ranking.
"To come back in the back draw and do so well is really nice," Lapidus said. "He's really helped himself with his ranking by doing so well in a major Grand Slam."
The only other men's tennis player in the tournament was junior transfer Alberto Brause. Playing for the first time as a Blue Devil after two years at Michigan State, Brause lost in the second round of the qualifying tournament to Keith Brill of South Carolina, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. Brause was winning the match 3-6, 6-1, 3-1 when it was called on account of darkness. The next day, Brill took five of six games to win the third set and the match.
"Alberto's not a quick starter," men's assistant coach Dave Hagymas said. "By the time he was getting into it, the match was over."
Both Hagymas and Lapidus were impressed with what they saw in Brause.
"I was very impressed with Alberto," Hagymas said. "I think he's going to be a tremendous asset for us this season."
Both Muzyka and Brause were playing their first tournaments of the year. According to Lapidus, the tournament offered "a good chance for the guys to establish themselves as individuals." Neither of the players had played competitive matches in some time, and thus could use the tournament as a chance to warm up against challenging competitors from all over the country.
This will be the only major match this year which the men will play on clay. Both Muzyka, who is Russian, and Brause, who is from Uruguay, grew up on clay courts, and were thus very comfortable with the surface.
The third Blue Devil invited to the tournament, Sven Koehler, pulled out with a minor knee injury. Koehler is expected to compete at the All-American Tournament, another Grand Slam event, in mid-October. At that tournament, the field will be a "little stronger," according to Hagymas, because many West Coast schools do not enter clay court tournaments.
"We will get to see what we need to work on," Hagymas said. "It's a building, repair-oriented season."
The women's results in the tournament were not as strong. Only Diana Spadea was able to make it into the main draw, as three seniors, Wendy Fix, Karen O'Sullivan and Luanne Spadea, all failed to make it through the qualifying rounds. Diana Spadea lost in the second round to Vicki Maes of Arizona. Maes, seeded second, was too much for Spadea and won, 6-0, 6-3. Earlier, Spadea had defeated Nicole Strnadova of Syracuse, 6-2, 6-4.
The women's doubles entry of O'Sullivan and Luanne Spadea lost to Courtney Chapman and Agnes Muzhamel of Ole Miss, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Women's assistant coach Jamie Ashworth, however, could explain his team's finish.
"The draw had a lot of foreign girls who grew up on clay," Ashworth said. The clay favors the foreign girls a little more. A lot of these girls you won't hear from again. The clay favors a less-aggressive style than our girls play. We need them to play aggressive to contend."
Ashworth said that the Blue Devils, along with Stanford and Florida, are expected to compete for the national title. Like the men, the women will not face any more competition on the clay surface.
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