Tennis season begins with new coach, basic approach
By Olga bograd
Skiff Staff

The men’s and women’s tennis teams will both start team match play today. The men will play aginst Texas A&M-Corpus Christi this morning, and both teams will face off against Saint Louis this afternoon at Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.

Head coach Dave Borelli said he is excited about the matchup not only because it is the first team game of the season, but because the game will mark his first coaching season since 1988.

“We had tournaments in the fall and now we have dual meets,” Borelli. “Now it’s team versus team. It’s a situation where we take each match individually and try to get better and better so that by the end of the season, I really anticipate we will be in the NCAA and Regionals and playing our best tennis by May.”

Borelli said in preparation for today’s match, the women’s team has dedicated much of its time to the basics of the game, such as playing more sets, and has an advantage with its new players.

“I’ve been trying to make it a bit simpler by playing more sets, more basics, competing more,” he said. “I think when I came in, I was thinking too much about doing this and that and what I basically did was to focus on fundamentals and make things a little simpler, concentrating on our abilities and not trying to change too much, work with the strengths that we have.

“The main focus now in the season is that things should always be simple. We don’t think too much. When you’ve got to compete, sometimes you think too much and make the game a little too complicated.”

Junior Paty Aburto, TCU’s first seed, said she was looking forward to the first-ever matchup with Saint Louis.
“I’m excited because I don’t know the team at all,” Aburto said. “I think we are practicing so hard. I’m kind of nervous and I think the rest of the team is as well.”

Head men’s tennis coach Joey Rivé said the team is ready and confident coming into the match.

“I feel excited,” Rivé said. “I think we’re ready to get the season started. (Assistant coach Cory Hubbard) and I are anxious to see how the team looks, how the pairings in doubles are going to shape out and how maybe we can throw two of our new guys into the mix, how they respond. I think our team is pretty confident about the new season so we are just anxious to get started.”

He said the main focus of the men’s team this season has been conditioning and strengthening the level of doubles’ play.
“I think this is part of the process of getting our team settled into what we’re going to expect as the season progresses,” Rivé said.

Olga Bograd
o.bograd@tcu.edu

credits

TCU Daily Skiff © 2002