USD Magazine, Fall 1995

itiiitfi:l!I LMANAC I

A Perlecl Maleh

0 herri Stephens still remembers her team's first trip to the NCAA tournament in 1989 as one of the most frustrating experiences in her 11-year coaching career at USO. The women's tennis team paraded onto center court, exhilarated by the hoopla and thousands of fans crowding the University of Florida stadium in Gaines– ville. But the excitement was quickly checked when the Toreros were intro– duced as the University of South Dakota team. Five trips later, none of its competitors was surprised when USO entered the 1995 national championship tournament ranked 19th in the country. Among the California at Berkeley, Arizona State University - USO and Stephens have made a name for themselves, determined never again to be misidentified. "It's a real honor to walk into the national championships and represent the University of San Diego among these huge athletic schools," Stephens says. The trip this spring to the nationals was a much-deserved conclusion to a season marked by superior physical and mental toughness that carried the women through a rough start. "At the beginning elite tennis playing universities - Stanford, USC, the University of

of the season we lost five matches in a row, all to top-20-ranked schools, and our confidence was down," Stephens explains. The freshmen, who accounted for half of the eight-person team, were not used to losing and became unsure of themselves on the court. Stephens' response: "I told them to forget that part of the season and start over." She says she later wondered if that was the best advice, given the strong teams and closely scheduled matches that filled out the rest of the season. But to Stephens' delight, the team won 10 out of the next 11 matches as well as the annual spring tournament sponsored by the Toreros. A win over No. 13-ranked William and Mary clinched an invitation, the school's fifth, to the May NCAA tournament, held at Pepperdine University in Malibu. Though the Toreros were eliminated from the team tournament by the Uni– versity of Indiana in the first round, a record five players returned to Pepperdine the next week to compete in the individ– uals tournament. Among them was Dina Birch '95, Stephens' second-favorite success story of the 1994-95 season. Birch began her senior year at Alcala Park having fallen out of the Toreros lineup. When she transferred from the University of New Mexico in her sophomore year, Birch was considered one of the top players on the team. She subsequently got caught in a vicious cycle of losing matches and, thus, her confidence. Finally after two miser– able years, she asked Stephens for help. Summer was approaching and her coach said simply, "Go out and play. Play as many tournaments as possible so it feels natural again to be on the court." Birch complied and returned last fall in top shape. She took over the No. 1 position on the team and immediately started beating nationally ranked players.

Shen·i Stephens

At the national championships, Birch fought through a closely contested match but lost 6-4, 6-4 in the second round to the eventual champion. The doubles team of Kristine Smith and Yvonne Doyle pre– vailed to the round of 16, placing them among the top 16 players in the country. Steffi Hesse and Lindsay Blanckensee, also a doubles team, were eliminated in the first round. The high caliber of tennis consistently played by each of the eight Toreros contributes to the USO identity as a uni– versity with superior scholar-athletes. Stephens' players are recruited based on their academic and athletic abilities, she says, and other schools notice when USO athletes are graduating in four years and playing in national competitions. "I get the more well-rounded girls who become every bit as good as the nationally ranked players because they put every– thing they have into it," Stephens says. "These girls really work hard. They take full class loads and practice four to five hours a day, not including conditioning and weights. "They're playing the highest level of tennis there is and not sacrificing acade– mics," she adds. "That's really special."

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