Top Collegiate Tennis Players to Play in Tournament at Ojai This Weekend

A men’s collegiate field that includes Brad Pearce of UCLA and Steve DeVries of Cal, and a women’s field that features Caroline Kuhlman of USC, will highlight this week’s traditional Ojai Valley tennis tournament.

The tournament, in its 87th year of attracting many of the top collegiate players in the country, will begin at the city’s Libbey Park and other area sites Thursday and wind up with finals Sunday.

Stanford is the defending champion in both the men’s and women’s collegiate divisions, but the Cardinal men’s team may have a tough time repeating because of the absence of Dan Goldie and Jim Grabb. Goldie, ranked No. 1 in the country last year and currently No. 3 nationally, won both singles and doubles titles last year, and Grabb made it to the semifinals before losing a long match to UCLA’s Mark Basham. Goldie has a sprained ankle and Grabb a groin pull.

Another absentee will be USC’s Rick Leach, loser in the other Ojai semifinal last year to Goldie and currently ranked No. 1 in the country. Leach is resting a sore elbow.

That leaves the men’s field with Pearce, ranked No. 2 in the country, and DeVries as the top players, with their main competition expected from Pat McEnroe of Stanford, Tim Pawsat of USC and Michael Kures of UCLA, who won the 1984 Ojai title but was out with injuries last year.

Kuhlman has a 24-0 record, including two victories over highly regard Gretchen Rush of Trinity. In her 24-match streak, Kuhlman has been taken to a third set only six times. One of her recent wins was a 6-4, 6-3 decision over Rush.

Patty Fendick of Stanford, perhaps Kuhlman’s main competition at Ojai, has also played Kuhlman twice. Her losses have been 6-0, 7-5 and 7-6, 6-4.

Pepperdine won the men’s independent college division last year.