2008 Woodie Awards
Men's tennis seeking regionals
Peter Cady, Staff Writer
Issue date: 2/12/08 Section: Sports
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"Our goal last year was to make the regional playoffs, which is our biggest goal each year, since we are not a conference sport," 16 year Head Coach Steve Cunninghame said, "Our team made the regional finals and we were competitive with (national semi-finalist) UC San Diego."
The season began on a sour note on Feb. 6 at home as the Seawolves lost 2-7 to Fresno Pacific in a non-regional match. Sophomore Quan Vu, however, did his part by shutting out his opponent 6-0, 6-0 in his singles match.
Saturday's match against Division I opponent University of the Pacific yielded similar results, seeing SSU dropping to 0-2 on the season.
The Seawolves are preparing to kick off their regional season (the team does not play in a conference) with four games in Phoenix , Arizona against Colorado State Pueblo, Mesa State College, Western New Mexico and Hawaii-Hilo from Feb. 15-18.
Regular season matches consist of six singles players and three doubles teams playing against six singles players and three doubles teams of their opponent, with the winning team being the one who wins five or more matches.
Last year's ace, senior Andy Muesse, will return to lead the Seawolves and once again anchor the number one singles and doubles spot this year. Muesse's leadership will be essential in the success of this year's team.
"He (Muesse) is a fine athlete with great wheels and a flexible mind," said Cunninghame. "He plays unbelievable defense, switches to offense in a heartbeat, and is a very effective net player."
Muesse will be joined by returning junior Jeff Stollberg and sophomore Connor Olson, who will start the season playing at the number two and number three spots respectively. Junior College transfers freshman Brett McNulty and junior Jeremy Heckley, will form the latter half of the singles lineup along with Vu.
McNulty will join Muesse for the number one doubles team, while Olson and Stollberg will form the number two doubles team and Heckley will team up with senior Logan Bailey to form the number three doubles team going into the season.
Depth was one aspect of this year's team that Cunninghame assured would be a strong point, saying the starting spots may differ as the season progresses.
Cunninghame, assistant coach Thomas Morton and Muesse agree that the team will have to go through a brutal schedule this year. Along with University of the Pacific, the Seawolves will face four other Division I teams during the season in Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Davis, Santa Clara and the University of Nevada.
In their region, the team will face the afore-mentioned UC San Diego, "UCSD is about as good as any D-I team," said Morton. The Seawolves will also square off against BYU-Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific.
The talent of this year's opponents will present a challenge for every player on the team. "Most of these teams are fully funded international all-star teams," said Cunninghame
While the road to the regional playoffs may not be as welcoming as it was last season, Cunninghame appeared confident that his squad, filled with both old and new blood, can make a repeat appearance in regional play.