Two of Oregon’s top players won’t finish the 1999-2000 tennis season.
Sophomore Sarah Colistro and freshman Amy Juppenlatz left the team at the end of last term, leaving the Ducks with only six scholarship players on the roster.
Colistro returned to her native Chaussy, France two weeks ago to recover from an undisclosed medical problem. She will rejoin the team in September.
Juppenlatz will not return to Oregon.
“[Oregon] just wasn’t the right place for her and it wasn’t the right situation for us either,” Head coach Jack Griffin said. “Things just weren’t working out.”
Colistro was the second-most experienced player on the team, second only to senior captain Alina Wygonowska. Colistro was getting her tennis career back on track after a tumultuous freshman year.
After winning her first three Pacific-10 conference matches, she tore her hamstring and was forced to redshirt the year. Colistro then had a successful redshirt freshmen season, compiling a 10-10 record. This season, Colistro was 6-6 in singles play and teamed with freshman Monika Gieczys for Oregon’s top doubles tandem.
Juppenlatz’ career was off to a promising start. The 1999 Oregon Prep tennis player of the year was one of head coach Jack Griffin’s most prized recruits. Juppenlatz started the season with a 5-5 record at the No. 4 singles position.
“It took us a couple matches to get used to the new lineup,” Griffin said. “This has been quite a challenge for us.”
Oregon will have to put these distractions aside as the Ducks travel to Pullman, Wash., to take on Washington State (8-7, 0-3 Pac-10). On March 5, the Cougars handed No. 42 Oregon its toughest loss of the season. After leading the match 4-2, the Ducks fell apart in doubles play, losing all three matches and falling 5-4 to Washington State. The match was Colistro and Juppenlatz’ last of the season.
Meanwhile, the Cougars are also reeling from the loss of a player.
One of Washington State’s top contributors, Sarah Burrows, was dismissed from the team this week. Burrows was Washington State’s No. 4 singles player and teamed with Patrycja Gajdzik for the top doubles position. Terms of the dismissal were not disclosed.
Washington will provide much tougher competition than the Cougars. The Huskies’ lineup includes the nations top-ranked player, Kristina Kraszewski, who burned senior captain Alina Wygonowska earlier this season.