Mountaineers fall to No. 55 Ohio State

A commitment to winning is the important change West Virginia women's tennis head coach Tina Samara is trying to instill in her players.

Unfortunately, the team did not make enough of a commitment to beat No. 55 Ohio State Saturday.

"We are still struggling with some players on this team, with their level of commitment," Samara said.

"It starts at practice. It starts when you are not at practice. It starts when you are home for vacation and I think we still have a big problem with how committed these kids are to getting better."

West Virginia fell 7-0 to the Buckeyes, with the

Mountaineers' only victory coming in No. 1 doubles. The duo of sophomore Mary Chupa and junior Emily Mathis out-volleyed Ohio States' Kelsey Haviland and Fidan Manashirova to post an 8-4 victory on the doubles court.

"(Chupa and Mathis) are a good doubles team. They have gotten to the point where they know how to play doubles properly," Samara said. "I told them from the start, they are very capable of doing good things from the No. 1 (doubles) spot."

Mathis was also able to generate some success on the singles court. Although she did not post a victory, she was able to force her match to a tiebreaker, before

|eventually loosing to Haviland 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.

"(Emily) is competing at a pretty high level with the No. 1 player from a pretty good school," Samara said. "Emily has been committed to the process more than everyone else."

It is that commitment that has allowed Mathis to emerge as a leader on the team, and Samara hopes more of the team will follow in Mathis' footsteps.

"She is a leader in the sense of what she does when she comes to practice – how hard she works at practice, how hard she works in matches and how hard she works in the weight room," Samara said. "The bottom line is she keeps herself fit. And, relative to this team she clearly does more than everybody else."

The level of fitness that Mathis shows is what really allows her to be successful on the court, according Samara, and she hopes the rest of the team will learn from Mathis.

"One thing I told the team from day one is that when you are fit, you automatically will play better matches," Samara said. "Not just because of your physical ability, but mentally, you are going to be more confident."

Chupa and Mathis were not the only bright spots for the Mountaineers. Samara was also pleased with senior Veronica Cardenas' effort in a 6-0, 6-2 loss to Kelsey Dieters in No. 4 singles.

"Veronica (Cardenas) has been working really hard," Samara said. "She had an opponent who had a very good day. And, when you play

someone who is on, it is very hard with Veronica's style to really counter that."

Samara hopes her team will continue to make strides as the season goes on, and she acknowledges she and her team have to keep moving forward and working hard.

"We just have to do as much as we can in the 20 hours that we have," Samara said. "(Hopefully) it starts clicking, or maybe they start having

little successes, and they like it and want to do more (to continue that success)."