NATIONAL COLLEGIATE TENNIS CLASSIC: SURPRISING KUKAL TO PLAY IN TOURNAMENT FINAL.Byline: Lee Barnathan Daily News Staff Writer No one expected Roman Kukal to reach the final. Not his USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. teammates and presumably pre·sum·a·ble adj. That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. not the National Collegiate col·le·giate adj. 1. Of, relating to, or held to resemble a college. 2. Of, for, or typical of college students. 3. Of or relating to a collegiate church. Tennis Classic officials, who spelled his name wrong in the program: Kukai. USC coach Dick Leach also has seen it misspelled ``Kuekl.'' Today, USC tennis fans should know this sophomore from Slovakia. He'll take to the Sherwood Country Club stadium court today at 1 p.m. and try to become the first Trojan A program that appears legitimate, but performs some illicit activity when it is run. It may be used to locate password information or make the system more vulnerable to future entry or simply destroy programs or data on the hard disk. since Brett Hansen Han·sen , Gerhard Henrik Armauer 1746-1845. Norwegian physician and bacteriologist who discovered (1869) the leprosy bacillus. four years ago to win this prestigious early-season tournament championship. The unseeded Kukal, who doesn't even play No. 1 for the Trojans, beat a pair of Stanford players Saturday. He dispatched Dispatched was a Swedish melodic death metal band formed in 1992 by Daniel Lundberg. Their sound is very similar to the older Gothenburg style of early In Flames. Biography Dispatched was formed just before New Year's Eve of 1991 by Daniel Lundberg and Krister Andersson. fifth-seeded freshman K.J. Hippensteel 6-1, 6-4 and outlasted junior Geoff Abrams 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). ``I played pretty well,'' he said. ``One of my best matches in college tennis.'' It was a good day overall for the Trojans. The doubles team of Ryan Moore Ryan Moore is the name of:
Kukal faces fourth-seeded Jean-Noel Grinda of UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX . Grinda knocked off top-seeded Ryan Wolters of Stanford 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. No UCLA player has won this tournament since Nark Knowles in 1991. Kukal is known as a player who tries hard, but one who hasn't yet won anything significant. After going 12-12 in singles last year as a No. 3 and No. 4, Kukal failed to advance past the second round in his two fall tournaments. This was unfortunate - because as a junior, Kukal was ranked eighth in the world in singles and fourth in the world in doubles by the International Tennis Federation. Now, Kukal has found his stroke. ``He was making easy errors, and now he's not doing it,'' Leach said. ``He's too good a player to have a .500 record. He's concentrating so well and playing hard every point.'' On the women's side, Stanford freshman Marissa Irvin, the top seed from Harvard-Westlake, breezed into the final with victories over two serve-and-volley opponents. Irvin beat fifth-seeded Amy Jensen of California 7-5, 6-3 and unseeded senior Annica Cooper of UCLA 6-2, 6-3. For Irvin, playing two serve-and-volley opponents like herself was fun. ``We all like to serve tough and come to the net instead of taking five hours to play,'' she said. It also was fun for Irvin because she and Cooper were roommates at a U.S. Tennis Association camp in Florida five years ago. The pair, although three years apart in age, shared tennis tales and played pranks on other campers. ``I remember everyone thinking she was real quiet,'' Irvin said. ``But I was her roommate. She wasn't quiet.'' The two haven't seen each other since, but Irvin almost became Cooper's college teammate. Irvin chose Stanford over UCLA, in part, because ``(UCLA) is five minutes from home (she lives in Santa Monica Santa Monica (săn`tə mŏn`ĭkə), city (1990 pop. 86,905), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1886. Tourism and retailing are important, and the city has motion-picture, biotechnology, and software industries. ). It's nice to be five hours from home.'' Irvin faces Cal's Anita Kurimay, the third seed, in the final, which is scheduled to begin after the men's championship. Kurimay beat Irvin's doubles partner, Teryn Ashley, 6-3, 6-0. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: USC's Roman Kukal defeated Geoff Abrams to advance to the National Collegiate Tennis Classic final at Sherwood Country Club. Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Special to the Daily News |
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