Lady'Back tennis squad heads to nationals

By: Harold McIlvain II

Posted: 4/30/08

The No. 15 Arkansas Lady'Back tennis team was selected to face No. 46 Wake Forest Friday in the first round of the NCAA Championship.

Arkansas had hopes of hosting for the first time in school history, but the team wasn't too down after watching the ESPNEWS selection show Tuesday, Arkansas head coach Michael Hegarty said.

"I think there was temporary moment of disappointment, but we understood that it was not guaranteed," Hegarty said. "We also understand that hosting will not determine if we advance or not as our play will determine that."

The Lady'Backs will look to slow things down during this exciting week of the season by just taking the tournament one day at a time, Hegarty said.

"We've been working since August for this point in the season, and we are excited to go play this weekend. Just like the Southeastern Conference Tournament, we will be looking forward get a victory in the first day to keep playing," Hegarty said.

Arkansas has not faced Wake Forest this year, but Hegarty said he has a great respect for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

"We have a lot of respect for the ACC overall; they are a power conference in tennis," Hegarty said. "With two ACC teams at this site, we will try to get as much information as we can. We did see North Carolina this year at the National Indoors, but we didn't face Wake Forest this year. We will need to scout and find as much information as we can."

Wake Forest finished the season on a eight-game losing streak while Arkansas finished the season with a loss to No. 8 Georgia in the SEC Tournament semifinals.

Hegarty said the team should be ready as they have faced some of the best opponents in the nation, and the team has played great on the road, he said.

"We've played the best that the SEC could offer and the best that the Pac-10 could offer," Hegarty said. "We also played really great on the road this season, and I don't think I've had a team that plays this good on the road."

Golf heads to Sacramento

The No. 7 Arkansas Lady'Back golf team was selected Monday for the NCAA West Regional Championship hosted by Sacramento State with play starting on May 8.

The team has not played the course this year, so the Lady'Backs will have to gather information ahead of time and make use of its practice time before the match, Arkansas head coach Shauna Estes-Taylor said.

"We haven't played Lincoln Hills, but we will try and gather as much information about the course as we can," Estes-Taylor said. "We'll prepare as we have all year long and see what happens."

Estes-Taylor said she used a strategic element that ended up not working out in making the schedule this year as the team played at both hosting courses for the Central and East Regional, but the team did not play the West course.

Arkansas is coming off a program-best second place finish at the SEC Championship and will look to have the same attitude it has all year long as the team looks to advance to the NCAA Championship, Estes-Taylor said.

"Our goal is to try and go out there and win the tournament," Estes-Taylor said. "That's our goal in every event we play and that strategy won't change. I know they advance the top eight, but if we strive to win we should advance without any problems."