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Sports
■■■■ * he Battalion Page 5 • Wednesday, October 23, 2002
Matij evic ready to help build tennis success
FILE PHOTO • THE BATTALION
Sophomore men’s tennis player Ante Matijevic is prepared to help lead the Texas A&M team to his goal of a national championship
next semester. Matijevic is currently partnered with sophomore teammate Lester Cook as the No. 14 doubles tandem in the nation.
By Gary Livingston
THE BATTALION
K
When Texas A&M sophomore
men’s tennis player Ante Matijevic
first stepped foot on American soil in
January 2002, he wasn’t sure what to
expect. The sophomore had lived his
entire life in Croatia, and to continue
Ills dream of playing tennis, he came
to the United States.
“It was really exciting the first
three weeks,” Matijevic said.
“Everything was so big it was unbe
lievable. People are so nice, i didn’t
expect people to say ‘hi’ to strangers,
that would never happen in Croatia.”
There is also an appealing aspect
of college life which Matijevic hasn’t
mastered yet.
“I’m single because it’s so tough to
date,” Matijevic said. “The girls here
are very pretty and very nice.”
While still learning U.S. culture,
Matijevic has had no problems on the
tennis court. He was named the Big
12 Conference Newcomer of the Year
last season, and has shown signs of
improvement this season by advanc
ing to two semifinals in consecutive
tournaments.
Two weeks ago at the 1TA All-
American Championships in
Tennessee, Matijevic teamed up with
sophomore Lester Cook and the duo
had the best performance by an A&M
doubles team ever by advancing to the
semifinals. The duo is currently
ranked No. 14 in the nation.
This past weekend, Matijevic
reached the singles’ semifinals at the
Midland Invitational, eventually los
ing to the tournament's No. 1 seed
Toni Gordon.
“I have been really pleased with
Ante’s performance,” said A&M
wen’s tennis head coach Tim Cass,
flehad the best record for us in the
spring. He has a 4.0 GPA, he has real
ly embraced A&M, and he has great
maturity for an 18-year old.”
Part of that maturity could be
attributed to the environment in which
Matijevic grew up in. He grew up in a
lite most Aggies could never imagine.
For years his country was torn apart
by the wars in Bosnia. Some of the
lighting took place only 30 miles from
his town, and the Serbs attacked his
small town of Split on one occasion.
"I was young so I don’t remember
too much,” Matijevic says. “The war
was close to my town, so school was
closed down on some days. 1 remem
ber crying when my father left because
he was a doctor and was involved in
the war. But, things are getting better,
and the economy is stable.”
Since he picked up a tennis racket
at the age of eight, Matijevic has
grown to love the game of tennis. His
parents didn’t play, but he watched
matches on TV and got interested in
the sport. The only problem was that
after high school there wasn’t much
opportunity in his country. Matijevic
said this is because people don’t have
a lot of money to support programs,
and that conditions are bad.
Matijevic had to make a tough
decision: should he stay with his fam
ily in Croatia, or pursue his dream of
playing tennis? Matijevic chose the
latter and began researching U.S. col
lege programs. He wanted to play for
a good team, and noticed A&M was
ranked in the top five at the time, so
he wrote a letter to Cass.
Cass first found out about Matijevic
through the internet because Tres
Davis, who played for A&M at that
time, had competed against Matijevic.
Through some talking and luck,
Matijevic came to A&M. Even though
he said he is having fun here,
Matijevic still misses his family.
“We talk everyday by e-mail, and
at least once a week by phone,”
Matijevic said. “I got to see them this
past summer, and I’m going home for
Christmas.”
Matijevic has learned to embrace
the U.S. way of life. He goes out with
the team every once and a while, he
likes to drink coffee, and says he has
attempted to dance but is not that
good. He has become good friends
with A&M basketball player Tomas
Ress who also hails from Europe. His
teammates joke around with him by
calling him Arnold because he sounds
like the action movie star.
Matijevic has some big goals for
himself and the A&M program this
season. He wants to be one of the top
ranked players and wants to win a
team championship while he is at
A&M.
Cass said Matijevic has already
shown a great work ethic and his con
fidence is going to lead him to be
great player.
Volleyball team looks for answers against Baylor
By True Brown
THE BATTALION
The first half of the season is one
Texas A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli
would like to forget. Her Aggies ran into
a brick wall after Big 12 play started on
Sept. 18, and they are still searching for
the cure to turn their season around.
“We are really trying to find that miss
ing link, that answer,” Corbelli said. “It’s
out there, and I think we are getting closer
to finding what it takes to pull out wins.”
It looked like A&M (12-6, 4-5 Big
12) had found the answer after last
week’s five-game marathon win against
Texas Tech. However, all the momentum
that was gained that day was lost three
days later when the Aggies fell to
Kansas State.
Now, the Aggies are less than .500 in
conference play again and searching for
answers.
A&M has lost three of its last four
matches, prompting Corbelli to contem
plate possible changes that might heal the
Aggies’ ailments in pressure situations.
“I’m used to having a highly-skilled
group, and this is a highly-skilled group
for the most part,” Corbelli said. “In tight
situations, that is sometimes where we
have had vulnerabilities. We’re not going
to let it happen anymore. We’re going to
tackle it more than we have.
“In practice when we’re in pressure
situations, there’s going to be more
severe punishment, more sit and watch. (I
want to do) things to get the message out
a little louder. Maybe it’s not loud and
clear enough right now.”
Sophomore Melissa Munsch, A&M’s
leader in kills, aces, digs and points per
game, said the Aggies’ struggles can’t be
blamed on their youth anymore. Rather,
she blames it on an erratic focus.
“A lot of people would blame it on
inexperience, but I don’t see it that way,”
Munsch said. “We’ve all played volley
ball at a high level, and we’ve played
against a bunch of teams that are really
good. I think we sometimes lose focus.
Once we get ahead, we can’t hold back.
We start off strong, but we need to work
on finishing strong.” ‘
The first answer the Aggies are
searching for in the rebuilding puzzle
may come in the form of the Baylor
Bears, which A&M plays tonight at 7
p.m. in G. Rollie White Coliseum.
Baylor (8-1 1, 2-7) has been swept in
its last three matches, and has been
plagued with injuries.
The Bears lost their top player last
month. Outside hitter Stevie Nicholas suf
fered a torn meniscus against Colorado
and is out for the season. Her loss has
contributed to Baylor’s paltry .185 hitting
percentage in conference matches.
With Nicholas out, the Bears moved
middle blocker Tisha Schwartz to outside
hitter, and Schwartz responded by taking
the league lead in kills, with 5.0 per game.
“I have to admire a team that loses
their superstar and still finds ways to put
other people in places where they can
still come up with wins,” Corbelli said.
“Some teams lose their star and it’s not
pretty. There are some great athletes on
their side of the net.”
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