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Sunday, April 07, 2002

Lauren Fisher's racket is doubles. Although she has changed partners this year as a sophomore at UCLA, Fisher continues to be one of the top-ranked women's doubles players in college tennis.

Fisher, who graduated from Woodland Hills High School, has teamed with freshman Megan Bradley of Columbia, Mo., to rank sixth in NCAA Division I. They are 21-3 overall and 6-0 in the Pacific-10 Conference playing No. 2 doubles for the eighth-ranked Bruins.

UCLA faces its sternest tests of the season when it travels to the Bay Area to face No. 6 Stanford and No. 20 California this weekend.

Fisher and Bradley first became a team in January to win the Pac-10 Indoor Championship with an 8-1 victory against Washington State's Stacy McKenna and Erica Perkins in Seattle. Bradley is one of the premier freshmen in the country.

Fisher was named the West Region Rookie of the Year last season by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. She had a 19-18 singles record and teamed with Petya Marinova to rank 18th in doubles with a 23-16 record.

Fisher and Marinova reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I championships.

Although Fisher didn't play tennis as a junior and senior at Woodland Hills, she earned a national reputation playing in tournaments around the country and was recruited by UCLA's Stella Sampras, whose brother is Pete Sampras. Fisher was trained privately by Craig Perry, director of tennis at the Oxford Athletic Club in Monroeville.

Campus courts

The Robert Morris men's team, which finished second in each of the past two seasons, was picked to be runner-up in the Northeast Conference for the third consecutive year in a preseason vote of the league's coaches.

The Colonials, under first-year coach Paul Skrok, feature John Hollis at No. 1 singles and Mamoun El Kettani and Mhamed Tlemcani.

The women's team, also coached by Skrok, was picked to finish seventh.

The NEC tournament will be April 25-27 at the Mercer County Tennis Center in West Windsor, N.J.

Baldwin-Wallace's Andrea Miller, a junior from Plum, is 2-3 playing No. 5 singles and 2-4 at No. 3 doubles with freshman Melissa Noe.

Grove City freshman Andrew Geisler posted a 6-0 record playing No. 6 singles and is the Presidents' Athletic Conference men's Player of the Week. He is 8-0 this season.

Net results

Edgewood Tennis and Fitness Club defeated Greensburg Racquet Club in the final, 17-7, to win the West Penn Junior Indoor League Championship.

There were 16 players on each of the six teams -- eight in the Varsity Division and eight in Junior Varsity (13 and under).

Teams interested in joining the West Penn Junior Summer League should contact David Hasley, 412-241-2812.

In memory

Jim Rudolph, who worked closely organizing local tournaments and activities with Bill Colbert, tells a story that sums up Colbert's pride and sense of humor. They were engaged in a friendly match a few years ago when both players agreed they didn't have time to finish. As they were putting their rackets away, Colbert turned to Rudolph and told him half-seriously and half-jokingly, "You were beating my father, you weren't beating me."

The tennis community lost a dear friend and tireless worker when Colbert died Tuesday of prostate cancer. He was 73. Colbert, who ruled the city's public courts during the 1960s and early '70s with dignity and grace, was USTA chairman for Multiracial Activities and Secretary of USTA Middle States Section until his death. He also helped found and run the Tennis Patrons Foundation of Greater Pittsburgh that offered more than 1,000 kids free clinics and lessons throughout the city during the summer and the annual NAACP Open Tournament.

"Bill Colbert will be missed," said Rudolph, Citiparks Director of Tennis and USA Tennis Community Coordinator. "He meant so much to so many people in tennis."

The tennis column is scheduled to appear Sundays in the Post-Gazette until Sept. 1. If you have results, upcoming events and activities involving local tennis players, either call Phil Axelrod (412-263-1103) or e-mail paxelrod@post-gazette.com.