W. tennis readies young talent for Ivy League play

The youngest Tigers may be the source of strength for women's tennis this spring. However, injuries left four of the five freshmen on the sidelines to cheer on a starting lineup that closely resembled last year's squad.

Senior co-captain Kavitha Krishnamurthy will lead the team at No. 1 singles and doubles for her second straight year. But losing last year's co-captains at the No. 2 and No. 3 singles positions ended the veteran trio's domination of the top positions. Rookie freshman Neha Uberoi will now follow Krishnamurthy at No. 2 singles.

"Neha will be a force where we lost the two seniors," head coach Louise Gengler said.

Uber-woman

Though only a freshman, Uberoi is one of the most experienced players on the team — already competing in professional tournaments as an amateur. And she is very familiar with orange and black. Her sister, Shikha, played No. 1 for the team as a freshman two years ago before temporarily leaving school to play pro tournaments — also as an amateur.

Uberoi plans to follow in her sister's footsteps after the season by taking at least a year off school to compete on the pro circuit. At only 17 years old, she already has a Women's Tennis Association world ranking of 767, trailing her sister at 585.

Gengler noted that the team is fortunate to have many talented freshmen in addition to Uberoi. But college tennis has already taken a toll on the youngest of the Tigers, who have been practicing through injury but were not ready to compete Saturday.

Gengler said freshman Allison Hashmall did very well at No. 3 singles this fall with a 10-3 record. Freshman Susan Meng went 9-3 and in total, the freshmen accumulated an impressive 50-10 fall record. Once they are healthy, the new players may fill half or more of the starting six positions this spring. But they have yet to challenge for a team rank.

"It's a young team," junior co-captain Alex Kobishyn acknowledged. "But all the freshmen are really mature. It doesn't feel like they are freshmen."

The veteran members of the team set a good example Saturday in their 4-3 win against Old Dominion. Their strength in singles outweighed a disappointing performance in doubles, where they lost in all three positions.

Both Gengler and Kobishyn said the team needs to focus more practice time on improving their doubles results.

"Most of us come here because of our singles skills. It's not like we're not good doubles players, we just haven't had the practice," Kobishyn said.

Though Kobishyn will play No. 3 doubles again this year with sophomore Stephanie Berg, the first two teams are new.

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Junior Vanti Bharghava, known for her doubles prowess, will now play at No. 2 instead of No. 1 with Krishnamurthy. However, she said it was not difficult to adjust to the new teams because she and her partner, junior Mateya McCoy, were teamed-up two seasons ago and won the 2000 Fall Invitational tournament in the Flight A division.

But Bharghava did not compete this fall while she was studying abroad in Oxford. Now Uberoi, who has played doubles in pro tournaments with her sister, will join Krishnamurthy at No. 1.

Krishnamurthy said that match experience should cure the team's shortcomings because everyone already has the skills necessary to play strong doubles.

"We have a great team this year," she said. "The freshmen have added tremendously to the depth in our lineup."

Like every senior athlete in her final season, Krishnamurthy hopes to lead the team to an Ivy League title — a goal not achieved since her freshman year. She also hopes to finish as an all-American before turning pro after graduation.

Judging by the successful performance Saturday, Krishnamurthy said the team has a "great shot" at beating Harvard, Yale and Penn — traditionally their toughest competition.

"Our win this weekend proved that we are sharp and ready to compete," she said.