Trojan Tennis Teams Get Started This Month
June 21, 1999 | Men's Tennis
January 12, 1999
In this, his 20th season as the head coach of the USC men's tennis team, Dick Leach has seen some great players come and go.
NCAA champion Cecil Mamiit, Brian MacPhie, brothers Byron and Wayne Black, Luke and Murphy Jensen, and his two sons, Jon and Rick, to name a few.
But he has never seen anything like this.
"It could be the best recruiting class that I have ever had in my 20 years," Leach said. "In 1982, I had Matt Anger and Todd Witsken, who went on to win ATP singles and doubles titles, and Antony Emerson and Rick Bengtson, who went on to be All-Americans. So, only time will tell if this class is as good as that recruiting class. It could be."
Gone are stalwarts George Bastl, Kyle Spencer and Fernando Samayoa (as well as three other letterwinners) from last season's 17-7 team (5-2 in the Pacific-10 Conference), prompting one to immediately think rebuilding year. But with the crop of incoming freshmen and one transfer that Leach has infused into the lineup, even a rebuilding season for the Trojans could be better than expected.
"Our team this year will consist of four freshmen, two sophomores, one junior and one senior. I think that you could say that we're building for the future," said Leach, who is assisted by Glenn Michibata.
And that future is so bright, USC could be reaping the benefits for years to come. Leading the pack is Andrew Park, a highly decorated freshman from San Marino, Calif. He could play as high as No. 2 in singles competition for USC this season and is listed at No. 43 in the national fall rankings.
Park's amateur record is outstanding. He played two years for the United States Tennis Association National Team and claimed numerous titles in both singles and doubles play. Park was the 1994 USTA 14-and-under national singles champion - a title he would reclaim as the 18-and-under champion last summer in Kalamazoo, Mich. - and doubled his pleasure as the 1998 18-and-under Easter Bowl singles and doubles champion.
"Andrew Park is the No. 1 junior player in the whole United States," Leach said. "He didn't lose a match this season in juniors, he won the Easter Bowl and the national championship and he also won the sportsmanship award. So, he's a good kid, a real competitor and he just knows how to win."
Another great addition is sophomore Gregg Hill, a transfer who mostly played at No. 4 singles for North Carolina last season. As a freshman, he was 8-4 overall in singles play and 2-4 in doubles, though he was injured most of the spring. But the list of awards and accolades that preceded him spoke volumes.
Along with his partner, Hill made up half of the No. 1-ranked junior doubles team in the world in 1995 and played at some of the most heralded tennis stadiums in the world. Hill was a semifinalist at Junior Wimbledon and a quarterfinalist at the Junior French Open in doubles.
Hill also won the Eddie Herr World Championship that same year in doubles play - the same competition in which he was a quarterfinalist as a singles player in 1994.
"We've lacked leadership; somebody who goes out and puts his guts on the court and says 'Let's go, I want to win more than anything,' " Leach said. "We've had some players who have acted a little cool and didn't want to really commit to the task at hand. This year we could see some really strong leadership building in Gregg Hill. He's 21, so he's a little older even though he's a sophomore, and I think there can be some leadership there. I just hope his injuries are in the past and he can play this season.
"This year, I think we can do well if Gregg is ready to play (he did not play in the fall due to an elbow injury). He's projected to play maybe No. 3 and he's a very good doubles player. If he's out, we should still be able to be one of the top 10 teams in the country, but if he's healthy and can play then we can be top five."
Another freshman, Ryan Moore from Fullerton, Calif., is a four-year varsity player out of Servite High School. Moore was the CIF Southern Section Player of the Year in 1997 and the Orange County Player of the Year in 1998.
"Ryan Moore is playing every bit as well as Andrew Park right now," Leach said. "He was the real surprise of the fall semester. He's a hard-working kid, coachable, and I can't wait to see the look on other players' eyes when they see how well he plays."
The last freshman - Nicholas Rainey of Mercer Island, Wash. - joined the Trojans in January. Rainey had a very successful summer, winning the USTA junior international grasscourt singles championship in Philadelphia. Rainey graduated from Weil College Prep in Ojai, Calif., at mid-semester to join the Trojans for this season.
But until these players become accustomed to the college game, Leach will rely on his veterans to anchor a team that was ousted from the NCAAs in the first round last season.
Junior Patrick Gottesleben is the front-runner for the No. 1 singles spot in 1999 after a solid campaign as the Trojans' No. 2 player last season. Ranked at No. 69 in the nation in the preseason singles ratings, Gottesleben was 18-10 overall in 1998 (15-8 in dual matches) and went 7-4 at the No. 2 slot and 5-4 at the No. 3 singles position. He also filled in at No. 1 singles and won both matches he played in.
Sophomore Roman Kukal had a .500 season in 1998 (11-11 overall, 10-10 in dual matches), but showed flashes of brilliance at times. Playing mostly at the No. 4 singles position, Kukal had a record of 4-5 and impressed when given the chance to play at the No. 2 slot, going 6-2 in match play. He was No. 88 in the national preseason rankings.
In doubles play, Kukal shined, going 15-2 - including a 9-0 record at No. 3 doubles - with partner Samayoa and compiled a 13-match winning streak before losing at the Pac-10 Championships.
"Patrick and Roman are veterans and I'm looking forward to watching them improve upon last season," Leach said.
One other returner, senior Scott Willinski, should open the 1999 season as a reserve, but will provide Leach with indispensable experience as the freshmen learn their way around.
Willinski was 4-4 overall last season (2-3 in dual matches) in mainly a backup role at No. 6 singles.
"If Gregg Hill is hurt, then we'll need Scott Willinski to fill in," Leach said. "He has some good experience, and I hope he is able to raise his play another level this year."
Scott Merryman, a redshirt freshman, joins the playing squad in 1999 after serving as a team manager last year.
Despite the possibility of a rebuilding season, Leach holds a lot of optimism about the upcoming year, especially with the prospects of several newcomers breaking into the starting lineup to open the season.
"If Gregg is healthy, I think that we can surprise a lot of teams," Leach said. "But I think we're really a year or two away from really being competitive and having another chance to win a national championship.
"We haven't played in anything yet. Last semester was a chance for everyone to get comfortable in school and do well, especially for the younger players, and to work on making changes in their game that had to be made. We didn't compete very much, but now I'm looking forward to the upcoming season and finding out what this team is capable of doing."
If seeing is believing, then visions of championships may be the next good thing Leach will see in the future.
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A recurring theme for the past two USC women's tennis teams was one of injuries. In 1998 alone, three players had surgery and missed nearly the entire year, leaving the remaining six to start and play with their bumps and bruises in every match of the season.
But in 1999, the Women of Troy are faced with a new situation: they now have to deal with the concept of good health, which means good news and bad news.
The good news is that the team will have the depth needed to compete at a national level. The bad news is that with the addition of two new players, there will be eight members on the team competing for six starting spots. It's a problem that head coach Richard Gallien is happy to have.
"This is by far the most excited I have been for an upcoming season," said Gallien, who enters his fourth season at USC with a record of 39-36 and his seventh overall at 101-60. "The two main positives going into this season are we're healthy and we have some new terrific players in Stefanie Meyer, Caroline Christian and Krissy Hamilton-Heinberg (who redshirted last season)."
Although the Women of Troy struggled through last season with many health problems, they did manage to finish 20th in the nation with an overall record of 13-11 and 3-5 in the Pacific-10 Conference. The team has five returning starters, including senior co-captains Ditta Huber and Karolina Bakalarova.
"Ditta and Karolina have done a great job for our team," Gallien said. 'They're our only two seniors and I'm glad that this will be their best team because they deserve that. Both of them, as did all of our players last year, often played sick or hurt because there was nobody to turn to and they did so without complaining."
Instead of worrying about injuries, the Women of Troy can instead focus on preparing for their always-challenging regular-season and conference schedules. After finishing sixth last year in the Pac-10, Gallien hopes the team can improve and compete for the league title in 1999.
"In terms of where we will ultimately finish, I think that there are four teams that have the chance to win the Pac-10 and it is exciting because we are one of them," he said. "It is exciting to be in the thick of things again, where we actually have enough horsepower to beat those schools."
Gallien is also excited about the addition of assistant coach Eric Amend to the program. Amend returns to USC after spending the past five years as a player development coach for the USTA and touring with the nation's top juniors and young pros following his five years playing on the professional tour. He was a four-year player for the Trojans in the late 1980s and won the NCAA doubles title with partner Byron Black in 1988. With both his experience and coaching ability, Amend hopes to improve doubles play for the Women of Troy.
The starting lineup is up for grabs this season, with the three newcomers challenging the five veterans for the starting positions. Gallien plans on giving everyone on the roster the chance to play and allowing them to decide the lineup based on their preseason performances.
"The dilemma will be who plays where in the lineup," Gallien said. "Probably in the beginning, we will have to do a lot of rotating and mixing and matching, trying to give everybody a chance. But, either singles or doubles or both, everybody is going to get a chance to play."
The two seniors, Huber (14-15 in singles in 1998), who has played No. 1 in singles for the past two seasons and made the NCAA Individual Championships field last year, and Bakalarova (17-13), a two-time Academic All-Pac-10 first teamer, will anchor the team.
There are a trio of juniors who hope to make a significant impact for the Women of Troy. Jacqui Boyd (23-12), who led the team in wins last season, was the only player to make it to the second round of the NCAA Championships in 1998. Veronika Safarova (19-17) also made the NCAA Tournament after playing in the No. 2 singles position for most of the season. Kara Warkentin (18-8) brings experience to the team, having played in four different spots in the lineup after transferring from Fresno State.
The three players who will see their first action for the Women of Troy bring plenty of talent and depth to the team. Hamilton-Heinberg was with the team last season, but never saw action after having season-ending surgery on a shoulder. She is a redshirt freshman in 1999.
Freshman Caroline Christian and junior Stefanie Meyer both come to USC from Germany. Christian has a tremendous junior record, including being a finalist at the prestigious Orange Bowl 16-and-under tournament three years ago. Meyer spent last year playing for her club in Germany.
The combination of veterans and new recruits brings a wealth of experience, talent and depth to the Women of Troy and they have the potential to do great things in 1999.
"The players who were here last year have certainly proven that they can play and win at this level. I know that all of our players, including the newcomers, are very capable," Gallien said. "I definitely think we can be one of the most improved teams in the country. We've worked hard to get this program in the right direction."
