Tennis player continues great play

Monday, April 16, 2007

Yuliana Svistun stopped by her coach’s office this week for a quick and casual meeting. Coach Amy Hall-Holt just wanted to see how her soft-spoken sophomore was doing.

“The more she opens up, the better her confidence is,” Hall-Holt said about Svistun, a second-year player from Ufa, Russia.

Svistun might have a quiet demeanor, but right now she’s letting her game do the talking for her.

Svistun defeated Colorado’s Gleisy Torres Torres, 6-2, 6-2, and improved her singles record to 13-5, and 7-2 in the Big 12 Conference. She trails only Marta Tsivka of Oklahoma State and Ristine Olson of Texas in the Big 12 standing at the No. 5 singles position. With conference matches left against Oklahoma and Texas A&M, Svistun still has a chance to finish on top.

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To go from not even being in the lineup at times last season to where she is now, I’ve been so pleased with her.

-coach Amy Hall-Holt

Svistun struggled her freshman season to make the transition to Division I tennis and spent most of the season outside of the top six in the Kansas lineup. This year, Svistun stumbled out of the gates, losing three out of her first four singles matches. She eventually settled in at the No. 5 singles spot and has won 12 out of 14 matches.

“To go from not even being in the lineup at times last season to where she is now, I’ve been so pleased with her,” Hall-Holt said earlier in the season.

On a day when Kansas struggled to keep up with a tough Colorado squad, Svistun looked in control from the start. Svistun used a solid baseline attack to jump and jumped a 5-1 lead on Torres Torres. She won the first set 6-2. Svistun continued that momentum in the second set.

Svistun’s game is unassuming at times — she’s more likely to wear down an opponent with consistency than overpower them. But with injuries plaguing the team throughout the spring, Svistun has been a much-needed constant at No. 5 singles.

“She’s definitely a laid-back player,” Hall-Holt said, “But she’s been a rock for us on the court.”

Kansan sportswriter Rustin Dodd can be contacted at rdodd@kansan.com.

— Edited by Ashley Thompson

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