Focus on winning Big West

Steve Virgen

UC Irvine men’s tennis coach Steve Clark has all his players on

the same page. Just like any year, the Anteaters enter the season

with their eyes on the prize. They want to win the Big West

Conference title.

“As usual, we’re expecting to win it,” said Clark, who is 124-107

overall and whose teams have been ranked nationally in each of his 10

seasons at UCI. “Santa Barbara and Pacific will be up there I’m sure.

And then there’s us. We’ll be disappointed if we don’t win it. With

Zoran (Korac) in the lineup, that’s going to strengthen our team. My

anticipation is that we’ll win it.”

Korac, who started his collegiate career at UCI, is back with the

Anteaters. He played at Orange Coast College the past two years. He

won the Orange Empire Conference singles title last year.

“Last year, I created a magazine cover,” Clark said. “I

superimposed (Korac’s) head on one of the Davis Cup winners. I told

him he can be an All-American and All-Big West scholar athlete. He

has always had a big game. Big hit, big forehand and the biggest

heart. He doesn’t want to lose. He’ll do whatever it takes to win.”

Korac, a junior, played at No. 2 singles against UCLA, which won,

7-0, Wednesday. Clark said Korac has the talent to be UCI’s No. 1,

yet junior Jonathan Endrikat or senior Sean O’Connor also have the

ability to play No. 1 singles. Endrikat and Sean O’Connor received

first-team All-Big West honors in singles last year.

Endrikat plays at No. 1 doubles with sophomore Brian Morton and

the duo is ranked 11th in the country in the ITA’s preseason poll.

The pair posted an 8-2 record in the fall. Endrikat and Morton won

the Southern California Intercollegiate Doubles title with their 7-6,

7-5 victory over a UCLA tandem. Prior to the fall season, the UCI duo

was ranked 23rd in the country.

Morton and Endrikat earned first-team All-Big West honors in

doubles, while O’Connor paired up with senior Greg Biorkman for

second-team doubles honors, last year.

“If you were to talk to (Morton), he would say he is not doing

well and he needs to improve,” Clark said. “But he is a talent. A

good trait of his is that he believes he can win any match, but that

sometimes means he gets down on himself too much when he doesn’t. He

has always seen himself as a doubles player, but I’ve told him that

he has a lot of talent and that he can be great at both.”

Clark said Morton and Endrikat work well together and they have

created good chemistry because they both have a good sense of humor.

However, they are very competitive, similar to the rest of the

Anteaters.

UCI remains competitive and motivated because of its past finishes

in the Big West.

Last year, UCI lost to Pacific in a mild upset in the semifinals

of the Big West Tournament. In 2001, the top-seeded Anteaters fell to

No. 3 Pacific, 4-0, in the final of the Big West tournament. The

Anteaters defeated UC Santa Barbara, 4-2, in the semifinals. The

runner-up showing UCI’s best conference finish since 1995.

The Anteaters open the home portion of their dual-match schedule

today with a match against 60th-ranked Fresno State and Friday

against 64th-ranked BYU. The Fresno State match is scheduled for 11

a.m. and the BYU match at 1 p.m. at Anteater Tennis Stadium.