BARBORA
ZAHNOVA SPOTLIGHT4-25-03
With the graduation of Martina Nedelkova and Andrea Ondrisova from last year's women's tennis team that reached the NCAA quarterfinals, the Rams lost not only their top two players, but undoubtedly the two best players in the history of the program. Head coach Paul Kostin, with three holdovers and a quartet of newcomers from Spain, figured to have a solid unit in 2003 without the star power the team had enjoyed the past five seasons. The Rams have proved to be more than solid, with a perfect 23-0 record and their first CAA championship after defeating William & Mary 4-3 last weekend. And in junior Barbora Zahnova (Trnava, Slovakia), VCU might have a star in the making.
After her three-set victory over the Tribe's Candice Fuchs in the CAA finals, Zahnova improved to 26-1 in singles this season, including a mark of 18-1 in duals, and is currently ranked 38th in the nation. Along with longtime friend and doubles partner Silvia Urickova (Trnava, Slovakia), Zahnova is ranked 18th in doubles with a record of 14-2. Her high rankings should allow her to join Nedelkova and Ondrisova as the only VCU women's tennis players to have qualified for the NCAA team, singles and doubles championships in the same season. The team competition begins May 9.
Winning the CAA title this year was significant to Zahnova beyond the fact that it is the program's first. In two VCU losses to William & Mary a year ago, including a 4-3 defeat in the CAA finals, Zahnova lost the clinching match both times, in the third set. To make her redemption complete, Zahnova won the last two sets after losing the first 6-1. "It was my personal mission to beat them," she said. "I'm so happy to win the CAA, but also that we beat William & Mary after losing twice to them last year.
"Before [this year's] match, Andrea [Ondrisova] told me that my opponent plays the first set well, and that losing the first set doesn't matter. I knew I had to be patient and she'd make mistakes and lose her focus. That was my thinking before the match, and I was able to come back and win."
Heading into this season, Zahnova didn't think the loss of the two top players would change the success of the team, just its composition. "We had several very good players coming from Spain and once we saw how good they were, I wasn't too concerned," she said. "This year there's no gap between all six players; we are all on the same level and could play in any order. I think this team can do as well as we did last year in the NCAAs."
After playing most of last season at No. 4 and starting this year at No. 3 or 4, Zahnova has settled in to the top spot in the lineup, going 7-1 there with impressive wins against No. 27 Fuchs and No. 18 Nataly Cahana of Old Dominion, the three-time CAA Player of the Year. "[The match with Cahana] was such a fast-paced match," said Zahnova, who was down 3-5 in the second set before coming back to win. "It was very hard to play against her and I was mentally exhausted afterwards. She was playing the same way I play, on the baseline, and that frustrated me. Then I went to the net more and was able to get the winning point."
In the CAA semifinals, Zahnova met Cahana again at No. 1 singles, but the match was stopped once the Rams clinched the team victory. Despite the difficulty of facing such a challenging opponent just a few weeks after their first meeting, Zahnova was disappointed the match was not completed. "It was the same kind of match as before. I was down 5-6 in the first set when we stopped, but I wanted to continue. I wanted to win again to show that I'm the better player, and that the first match wasn't just a bad day for her. I wasn't happy at all that we stopped."
It is that competitive attitude that drives Zahnova and has helped propel the Rams to a perfect 23-0 record. She admits to not being one of the harder hitters but is patient and fights for every ball, waiting for her opponent to make a mistake. That approach has worked well enough to earn her a place among college tennis' top players, as well as the top position on the ninth-ranked team in the country.
"We have an unbelievable team," she said. "Each player used to be a top junior player in Europe. Now we're together and we create a great team here. Each player is so experienced, and there's not a big difference from the top player to the sixth or seventh."