Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 5, 1990 TAG: 9004040347
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV12 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"I didn't know anything about colleges," said Gudelj, a Yugoslavian who last year was a foreign-exchange student at an Arkansas high school. "I looked in the book [and] picked 20 engineering colleges. I wrote 20 letters to 20 different colleges."
Through an uncomplicated process - mutual interest - Gudelj landed at Virginia Tech. He liked its well-known engineering school, and Hokies' tennis coach Larsen Bowker liked Gudelj's ground strokes. Halfway through his freshman year, Gudelj (pronounced goo- day) is 10-1 as Tech's No. 3 singles player and has helped the Hokies to a 10-1 record at the start of this week.
"To my knowledge, this is the best start Virginia Tech's had for a very long time," said Bowker, who has been coach for four years but said he's familiar with the past 15 years of the program's history.
Tech's only loss came March 15 to then third-ranked Georgia, 5-4, in Athens. The Hokies, who won the 1989 state championship during the abbreviated fall season, will face at least two more ranked teams this spring: North Carolina on March 14 and South Carolina in the Metro Tournament.
In college tennis, the Hokies hardly are headliners. But Bowker said the loss to Georgia has Tech making noise. If the Hokies continue winning and can upset UNC or South Carolina, he said, attention will follow.
"We're beginning to get a lot of what I call underground press," Bowker said, referring to other tennis coaches having heard of the Hokies. "Word starts around, and then you exist in their minds. Now I've got to wait for my kids to take the big one. The underground work has been done."
No small thanks to Gudelj, who began playing tennis at age 9 in Karlovac, Yugoslavia. By the time he was 14, he said, he was ranked in the top five in his age group. Even when he followed his older sister's example and became an exchange student in his last year of high school, he never figured he'd be playing American college tennis.
"I didn't know I was going to stay here," he said of the United States.
He stayed, and now he's discovering part of what being a Hokie means: seeing red instead of orange and blue when Tech plays Virginia.
"The first time we played them [in the state tournament last year], I'm not saying I didn't care, but I didn't see that rivalry that much," Gudelj said. "This time [March 23], it was a much bigger deal. I knew when I was coming into the match that I had to win the match."
Gudelj won and so did Tech. Bowker said Gudelj may join Tech's top two singles players, freshman Marcus Kramer and Mark Bernstine, in the regional rankings. Kramer and Bernstine are ranked 17th and 19th respectively in Region 3, which covers Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. Alex Ortiz and Bernstine are ranked seventh in doubles.
But because the Hokies aren't on the national horizon, Tech and its players are long shots to receive any postseason bids after the Metro. The NCAA invites 16 teams for its tournament and holds a singles tournament as well, but Bowker said even if Tech won the Metro tourney it wouldn't guarantee the Hokies a spot in the NCAA's.
Bernstine began the year as Tech's No. 1 singles player and would've been a logical favorite among the Hokies to advance past the Metro. But the enigmatic senior is just 4-6, the only Hokie with more than one singles loss. Four of those losses have come after Kramer took over the top spot and Bernstine began playing No. 2.
"He's one of my favorite people," Bowker said of Bernstine. "[But] he doesn't get really interested in things unless there's a big challenge. Whenever I've really needed him . . . he'll win."
Against Virginia in last fall's state tournament, Bernstine was down 1-4 in the first set. During a break, Bowker told Bernstine Tech needed a win in his singles spot. Bernstine won 11 of the next 12 games to win the match 7-5, 6-1.
Gudelj has been more consistent this spring, winning his only two singles matches at No. 2 and going 8-1 at No. 3. And, he said, he's still adjusting to playing on American hard courts instead of European clay courts.
"I'm changing every day," he said. "[Hard courts are] a lot faster; you have to attack more. On clay, everybody plays on the baseline; not many people are coming to the net. On hard courts, you have to hit the ball harder because if you don't do it, your opponent's going to do it."
by CNB