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SOU tennis 'playing for pride' By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Gail Patton has led the Southern Oregon University women's tennis team through five highly successful seasons. She can usually be found on match day marching around the fence hollering encouragement and shouting instructional tidbits. But Patton, who's led SOU to 58 wins in 73 matches since taking over the program in 1999, is also a realist, which is why she's accepted that her team will basically be playing for second in this week's Region I tournament, scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the SOU tennis courts. That's because the four-team round robin meet also includes Lewis and Clark State College, the NAIA's eighth-ranked team which has won six straight Region I titles and, thanks to a roster once again bulging with international talent, is the heavy favorite to win again. "Well, I think we're playing for pride, and really it's capping off the season and there will be some kids after regionals that will be named to the all-region team," Patton said. "So, for the seniors it's the last chance to represent the school." Weather permitting, SOU will open regionals at 9 a.m. Friday vs. either Albertson or Alberta, the other two schools "playing for pride." Regardless of the outcome, SOU will play again at 2 p.m. Friday against an opponent to be determined, and the championship and consolation duals are set for 10 a.m. Saturday. At stake is an automatic berth in the 24-team NAIA fracas in Peachtree, Ga. If the Raiders (10-3) pull off the major upset, they'll make their first national tournament appearance. Lewis and Clark is a perfect 3-0 in Region I battles this season, but that mark barely scratches the surface of the school's dominance. In those three wins, LCSC won all 27 matches played. In other words, unless the defending champs get lost on the way to Ashland, they'll almost certainly leave town with a seven-peat in hand. That cold, hard reality, however, has not dampened the Raiders' spirits, says Patton. On the contrary, SOU players are looking forward to showing what they can do in front of the home fans and are seeking a berth in Saturday's title match. "We would love to be looking at a match with Lewis and Clark State in the finals, which would mean that we would have to win the Albertson match and the Alberta match," Patton said. "That definitely is a realistic goal, and then once you get in a match with Lewis and Clark State they're very tough and realistically, we've played them before so we look at the scores and say, 'how we can better these scores.'" That won't be difficult. In the March 7 match between Southern and Lewis and Clark, played at the LCSC Tennis Center in Lewiston, Idaho, the Raiders won more than two games in just five of the 13 sets and took a combined five games in the first, second, fourth and fifth singles matches. The closest match of the day was at No. 4 singles, where LCSC's Ana Cornea defeated SOU's Heather Virell, 7-5, 6-4. The Raiders enjoyed greater success against its other regional competition, twice beating Albertson 6-3 and falling 5-4 to Alberta. Southern is 7-4 all-time against Albertson, but 0-3 the past two years against Alberta. Leading the Raiders in the singles department are senior No. 1 Bridget Wagner (16-6), No. 2 Kristin Maloney (20-6) and No. 3 Megan Loeding (18-8). Virell (18-8), Erika Moller (14-10) and Katie Ketchum (10-14) round out a Raider lineup Patton says is short on numbers but long on talent. "We're not as deep as we have been in the past just because we have less players on the team," Patton said, "but I think the top players this year are definitely some of the best players I've ever had." Coming in as the heavy favorite has not gone to the head of LCSC head coach Kai Fong, who stressed in a phone interview that his team still has work to do. "We're certainly very respectful of the teams in the region," Fong said, "I mean, these guys can play. All we can do is go up there and play some tennis and hopefully we'll bring our 'A' game." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -