CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - When the South Carolina State tennis teams traveled down Tobacco Road for an NCAA Tournament match in 2006, they came away winless.
With a more seasoned and battle-tested group of Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs to face the University of North Carolina this time around, head coach Hardeep Judge’s biggest concern entering this weekend’s matches is not whether his team can win a match, but the weather.
Rainfall is in the forecast for today’s 10 a.m. matchup between the Lady Bulldogs (13-3) and Lady Tar Heels (17-8). If that occurs, the contest will be moved from the outdoor courts at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center to an indoor facility.
“If we go indoors, it will be a little bit different because we’re not used to playing indoors,” Judge said. “So we’re hoping that the weather will turn out okay for us to stay outside.”
Inclement weather could potentially leave the Lady Bulldogs without seniors Marcela Rodezno and Miriam Cruz. The two are scheduled to graduate from SCSU this evening and Judge said any rain delay at the start of the match could force them to depart from Chapel Hill before the start of the match.
This would leave the Lady Bulldogs without their best singles player in Rodenzo, who’s a perfect 14-0 this season, and a senior doubles’ teams in she and Cruz which are 12-2 on the season. Judge would then have to rely on his four freshmen to face a Lady Tar Heels’ team which in their last outing had one of its players (sophomore Sanaz Marand) defeat the nation’s top player in Clemson’s Ani Mijacika.
Like their female counterparts, the SCSU men (18-3) have a mix of young and experience although Judge believes this is a more formidable group than the team which was shut out 4-0 by UNC two years ago.
“I think our lineup this year, especially for the men’s team, is a lot more even all the way down one through six,” said Judge about last year. “We’re very even. In years’ past, we had some weak links toward the bottom. This year, we’re a lot stronger all the way down. The MEAC Rookie of the Year (Gabriel Meana) is either going to play four or five for us and we have a guy at number six (freshman Tomas Dobrotka) that only lost two matches all year. And our number one player (junior Ivan Milivojevic) was nationally-ranked (100th in the latest ITA rankings). So I think overall, we’re a lot stronger team than we have been in the past. We’ve come a long way from Day One. The guys have really, really improved. The freshmen have really improved since January and I’m excited because I want to see how they perform this year and years to come.”
Even if SCSU fails to advance today and Saturday, Judge believes the program is on the verge of reaching the next level. By recruiting taller, stronger players, Judge predicts SCSU will be a Top 20 program in two years.
“I’m more confident this year than I have been in years past, especially with our guys’ team,” he said. “We’ve really come a long way, but...with the freshman class this year and the people we recruited, we’ve recruited some players that could have played at Georgia or anywhere for next year that are going to play with us and I just feel that the direction that the men are going in and the recruits we’re starting to get for the women, we’re finally able to recruit at a UNC level.
“A year from now or two years from now, we’re going to be just as good as a UNC. I can see that with the players that we have. This is going to be a great learning experience for them to say that this is what we have to do as a team to get to this level. So I’m excited that we have this opportunity now because it’s only going to help the teams that we have for years to come.”
T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.