Women's tennis on the move
By Tisha Lanier
Contributing Reporter

The women's tennis team opened up their fall season at the Tenth Annual William and Mary Invitational, and according to Head Coach Brian Fleishman, showed "signs of brilliance."

Five Deacs made the trip and each made a strong showing in the first competition of the year.

The invitational was a flighted tournament where there were six flights of 16 players in each, with eight teams in each flight.

Sophomore Karin Coetzee defeated Eldina Fazlic from Illinois in her singles B flight, winning 6-2, 6-1, while the dangerous duo of sophomores Katie Martzolf and Danielle Schwartz won their doubles flight 8-4.

Martzolf, who was selected 75th by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association to the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings preseason singles poll, went on to upset Mari Toro from Miami in the consolation round of the first singles flight, while Schwartz was defeated by Lindsay Cox from Richmond in the singles C flight.

Junior Elizabeth Proctor fell to William and Mary's Lingda Yang in the singles E flight, yet finished second overall. Junior Aimee Smith overpowered Katie Karhohs of Richmond, winning her singles D flight 6-3, 6-2.

"The William and Mary Invitational was a great start to our 2002-03 season," Fleishman said. "All five girls on the team did extremely well."

After losing Wake Forest legacy Bea Bielik last year, fans wondered how the team would fare.

"The team chemistry was good when Bea was here and now that Janet Bergman, Maren Haus and Bea are gone, the team chemistry is amazing," Fleishman said.

"The girls on the team are like sisters to each other: they eat together, study together, hang out together and they will win together."

Fleishman, who won the coach of the year award last year, is excited about the upcoming season and was very complimentary of his team.

"Danielle Schwartz and Katie Martzolf won their respective flights and definitely will be one of the best doubles teams in the conference," Fleishman said.

"Danielle is an amazing doubles player. She has some of the best hands in college tennis. This doubles team will win a lot of matches for Wake this year."

Elizabeth Proctor made it to the finals of her flight and though she lost, Coach Fleishman is not worried about her overall performance. "Elizabeth has the ability to compete at a high level and can beat a lot of players by her tenacity on the court."

"Aimee Smith has also improved greatly since last season. Winning her singles flight was just a small peek for fans into the hard work she has done on her game," Fleishman said.

Despite losing Bielik this team will no doubt power through the competition with its mentality and work ethic.

"I am excited about these girls," Fleishman said. "They work hard, they want to get better, they want to win, they want to get good grades, and they want to have fun! The whole team supports each other. The whole team will win for each other and for the school."

The Deacs will next see action on their home court on Oct. 4, 5 and 6 in the Wake Forest Invitational.