Texas A&M
Battalion Sports
September 30, 1982 Page 15
staff photo by John Ryan
Lggie No. 1 singles player Liliana Fernandez hits a
“turn during a match against the Houston Cougars
|uring the spring season. Fernandez, a senior, has
een one of the Aggie Ladies’ top players since her
ireer here began four years ago.
Right at home
Fernandez has become key force in A&M tennis fortunes
by Joe Tindel Jr.
Battalion Staff
Home is thousands of miles away for Liliana Fernan
dez — thousands of miles south of the border. But now
that she’s a senior at Texas A&M, she said she feels like
an American.
And she plays tennis like an all-America.
Although her strong Latin-American accent remains
as a reminder of years passed in her native Cali, Col
ombia, Fernandez is now well into her role as an Amer
ican tennis standout.
She’s the number one singles player on the Aggie
women’s tennis team, and she’s been the top Aggie Lady
for the last two years in singles. She also pairs up with
Teresa Landry to form the number one doubles team.
But her high ranking expands beyond the boundaries
of her team, for according to Coach Jan Cannon, Fer
nandez has potential to join the alb America ranks.
Fernandez had been around a tennis racket long
before she came to Texas A&M. In fact, it was at age 11,
long before her high school years, that the senior netter
took to the court.
“I used to just practice one day a week, like Friday
afternoons, for about an hour,” she said.
The next year she went to her first Colombian na
tional tournament, where she found she would have to
allot more time to practice in the future.
But Fernandez got better and better.
Her second try at the nationals saw her finish fourth,
and by her third year, only one player stood in her way
— but only for one year. The Colombian nationals
produced the same junior champion, Fernandez, for
the next four years.
Then, during her junior year of high school came
Fernandez’ decision to come to the United States.
A tennis pro from Iowa came to Colombia to teach
tennis and talked Fernandez into coming to the United
States. Fernandez said she narrowed her school choices
down to those in Florida, California and Texas because
of the favorable climates.
She finally settled on school in the Lone Star state,
and fortunately for coaches David Kent and Cannon,
the school was Texas A&M.
“A&M has a very good reputation in academics in
Colombia, and there were about 15 more people from
my same high school here already,” Fernandez said.
“I didn’t want to be on my own in another school.”
Like most international students, Fernandez had to
survive all the complex paperwork it takes to become a
student in the United States, she said, but Kent helped
her get settled. She was soon swinging a racket again —
and swinging it well.
It was by word of mouth that Kent heard about
Fernandez. Alberto Jimenez, another Colombian who
played on the men’s tennis team in 1978 and 1979,
passed the word about Fernandez, she said.
Fernandez said she had some difficulty at first ad
justing to tennis in the United States. For one thing, she
missed playing on clay courts.
“It was the first time I played on hard courts,” Fer
nandez said. “In Colombia, we had clay courts — that’s
all we had.
“The weather was very humid at that time, and
everything built up — being away from home. But I’ve
improved very much.”
And improve she has. During her freshman year, she
played number five and six singles and number three
dpubles, having been less aggressive than the Aggie
coaches perhaps wanted in a top player. She had that
problem licked by her sophomore year, when she
soared to the number one singles spot.
“I changed some of my game,” Fernandez said. “I
didn’t used to attack the ball as much as I do now.”
Now she has high hopes tor this season, and her play
thus far has shown that those hopes aren’t in vain.
Kent described Fernandez as “the class of the tourna
ment.”
Fernandez and the Aggie Ladies will compete in this
weekend’s Westwood Invitational in Austin.
Holtz seeks consistency on offense
United Press International
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. —
Arkansas coach Lou Holtz ex
presses disappointment about
the performance of the Razor-
back offense this season and says
he hopes the unit will come
together Saturday against Texas
Christian University.
Holtz, in a telephone confer
ence with reporters in Little
Rock Wednesday, said the
Razorbacks had exhibited effort
on offense, but the team com
bination did not form in last
week’s narrow 14-12 win over
Mississippi.
TCU coach F.A. Dry sound
ed more optimistic about Arkan
sas Wednesday, comparing the
Razorbacks’ two-quarterback
offense to Southern Methodist’s
two-tailback system, saying fresh
players in those positions keyed
both teams’ offensive attacks.
“There’s not anything wrong
with Arkansas,” Dry said of
Arkansas’ victory over Ole Miss.
“Arkansas has an outstanding
football team. They have the
best combination of the run and
pass that I’ve seen at Arkansas in
a long time.”
Dry speaks with experience
when he talks about SMU run
ning backs Craig James and Eric
Dickerson. TCU led 13-6 going
into the final quarter against
SMU last week but fell 16-13 to
the Mustangs in a Southwest
Conference opener for both
teams.
TCU on Saturday will face
Arkansas’ quarterbacks Tom
Jones and Brad Taylor, and Dry
said he expected a similar chal
lenge.
Jones, a senior, started in the
first two Arkansas games, but a
minor toe injury kept him from
starting against Ole Miss. Taylor
filled in and hit 10 of 22 passes
for 135 yards and a touchdown.
Jones and Taylor have com
bined this season to complete 34
of 66 passes for 512 yards, three
touchdowns and three intercep
tions.
Dry said the Arkansas run
ning attack puts pressure on the
opponent’s defense and opens
up the Razorbacks’ passing
game.
Holtz also compared the de
fenses shown by last week’s
opponent Ole Miss and upcom
ing challenger TCU, and he sug
gested the Frog’s defense prob
ably was the better of the two.
“You’ve got to be a real good
defensive team to control the
line of scrimmage like they did
against SMU,” Holtz said, not
ing TCU did nothing fancy but
instead just lined up head-to-
head.
“Look at them last year and
look at them this year,” he said.
“They’re a much better football
team.”
TCU comes into the Arkansas
game posting a 1-2 record, in
cluding a season-opening win
over Utah State and consecutive
losses to Kansas and SMU.
Arkansas, ranked 11th national
ly, carries a 3-0 record into
Saturday’s meeting at War
Memorial Stadium in Little
Rock.
Arkansas had held a 22-game
win streak over TCU, but the
Frogs shocked the Razorbacks
last season by taking a 28-24
come-from-behind win at Fort
Worth.
Dry said the win over Arkan
sas last year was important, but
he said every game against the
Razorbacks is important to him.
Holtz said he would be seek
ing consistency on offense mov
ing into the Southwest Confer
ence portion of the schedule. He
said injuries to the Razorbacks
this season had been few, but
critical.
Wide receiver Gary Andersqn
did not play in the Razorback
opener against Tulsa and was
not at full speed against Navy
and Ole Miss. An inner ear in
fection has affected his balance
and vision. Wide receiver Derek
Holloway, who started in
Anderson’s place against Tulsa,
suffered a knee sprain in the
Navy game and will not play
against TCU.
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