Refreshed Hogs set to take on Mustangs
Jimmy Carter
Issue date: 2/25/09 Section: Sports
Following a rare 18-day layoff, the Arkansas women's tennis team jumps back into action today against a former Southwest Conference foe, No. 69 SMU.
It will be the No. 17 Hogs first match since they earned a 6-1 win over BYU on Feb. 6. The long layoff is something rarely seen in the midst of a dual-meet season, but the Hogs welcomed it with open arms.
"We're looking good, training well," Arkansas coach Michael Hegarty said. "We've had a bit of time to work on some of our dings and we look good.
"It's a time where you can try to get some good things worked on. We've done that and I think that we're better than the last time we played. It'll be exciting to kind of go out and see it."
Arkansas used the two-week layoff to work on its conditioning and Hegarty said a lot was accomplished.
"We did a lot of stuff on conditioning," Hegarty said. "It's just a chance to do some work where you don't have to worry about a match the next day, or even the day after that or the day after that.
"During the spring you're constantly playing a match pretty soon. There's recovery things to be worried about. We didn't have to worry too much about recovery with a two week break. So we had plenty of conditioning, hit a lot of balls."
The Razorbacks will follow up their hiatus with the match against SMU (12-2). The Mustangs are coming off a 5-2 upset of No. 62 North Carolina State last Friday.
"SMU is a very underrated team," Hegarty said. "They have a couple of kids, at least one I know, who will play at the top of the lineup, who has been out the whole year. So we're anxious to kind of test ourselves against them.
"They're going to have a much better season going forward than they've had up until now. So it could be a good win for us if we can take care of business there tomorrow."
While other Razorback sports teams have suffered from a flu bug going around campus, Hegarty said the team is healthy and should keep the same rotation that they have this entire season.
"Health-wise we're pretty good," Hegarty said. "I don't think you're ever perfect, I don't remember ever being perfect. We feel good about where we're at."
The Hogs matches against SMU and on Saturday against Memphis will be the final nonconference matches of the season and were set up to mirror a conference weekend.
"[We're] trying to do these two matches similarly to a conference weekend, even though it's a Wednesday and a Saturday as opposed to a Friday and a Sunday," Hegarty said.
"It'll be similar and give the kids a chance to turn around through the course of a weekend and get us ready of course for Alabama and Auburn the following weekend."
It will be the No. 17 Hogs first match since they earned a 6-1 win over BYU on Feb. 6. The long layoff is something rarely seen in the midst of a dual-meet season, but the Hogs welcomed it with open arms.
"We're looking good, training well," Arkansas coach Michael Hegarty said. "We've had a bit of time to work on some of our dings and we look good.
"It's a time where you can try to get some good things worked on. We've done that and I think that we're better than the last time we played. It'll be exciting to kind of go out and see it."
Arkansas used the two-week layoff to work on its conditioning and Hegarty said a lot was accomplished.
"We did a lot of stuff on conditioning," Hegarty said. "It's just a chance to do some work where you don't have to worry about a match the next day, or even the day after that or the day after that.
"During the spring you're constantly playing a match pretty soon. There's recovery things to be worried about. We didn't have to worry too much about recovery with a two week break. So we had plenty of conditioning, hit a lot of balls."
The Razorbacks will follow up their hiatus with the match against SMU (12-2). The Mustangs are coming off a 5-2 upset of No. 62 North Carolina State last Friday.
"SMU is a very underrated team," Hegarty said. "They have a couple of kids, at least one I know, who will play at the top of the lineup, who has been out the whole year. So we're anxious to kind of test ourselves against them.
"They're going to have a much better season going forward than they've had up until now. So it could be a good win for us if we can take care of business there tomorrow."
While other Razorback sports teams have suffered from a flu bug going around campus, Hegarty said the team is healthy and should keep the same rotation that they have this entire season.
"Health-wise we're pretty good," Hegarty said. "I don't think you're ever perfect, I don't remember ever being perfect. We feel good about where we're at."
The Hogs matches against SMU and on Saturday against Memphis will be the final nonconference matches of the season and were set up to mirror a conference weekend.
"[We're] trying to do these two matches similarly to a conference weekend, even though it's a Wednesday and a Saturday as opposed to a Friday and a Sunday," Hegarty said.
"It'll be similar and give the kids a chance to turn around through the course of a weekend and get us ready of course for Alabama and Auburn the following weekend."
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