Tennis Takes Low-Budget Approach

Bill Reynolds runs his women’s tennis program on a shoestring budget. But that doesn’t make him unique at Cal State Fullerton, where money for sports teams has been harder to come by since the financial crunch hit state schools.

Reynolds will be taking his team to the Big West Conference tournament this week at Ojai, and the players will be staying with some of Reynolds’ friends in nearby Ventura, where he once coached.

It’s one of the ways he can save money from his annual budget to provide a few of them partial scholarships. That budget is around $14,000, excluding his salary.

“I raised about $7,000 myself, so we could have that much scholarship help,” Reynolds said. “We’ve had a couple of Southern California Tennis Assn. open tournaments here, and we’ve raised about $5,000 for the program that way.”

But that kind of money stretches only so far. The players pay for their own uniforms and warmups.

“They understand and appreciate the situation that we’re in,” Reynolds said. “We’re at the point now where we’re getting tennis shoes, along with tennis balls, at reduced prices.”

Actually, tennis balls are no small expense because most of the Titan matches are at home.

“One of the fortunate things is that we don’t need a big travel budget because many of the teams from back East are happy to come out because of the good weather,” he said.

But that doesn’t make the Titans competitive for the conference championship against such teams as UC Santa Barbara, Pacific, Nevada Las Vegas and Nevada.

“From what I understand from talking to coaches at UCSB and UNLV, they have the eight full scholarships allowed by the NCAA, or close to it,” said Reynolds. “(Pacific) also has eight tuition waivers.”

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Fullerton, seventh-seeded, plays San Jose State in its opening Big West match today, with Reynolds hoping his team might finish as high as sixth.

Reynolds expects to win the match against San Jose State, which would send Fullerton against second-seeded UNLV Thursday. It’s not likely the Titans can defeat the Rebels, but Reynolds said his team should be competitive with sixth-seeded Hawaii in the next round.

Living on the $7,000 split into four partial scholarships, the team is doing relatively well, Reynolds believes. The program is helped by several walk-ons. Jennifer Canfield is 14-6, playing mostly at No. 5, although she is unbeaten in her two appearances in the Nos. 3 and 4 singles.

“We’ve had a good year, and that’s mainly due to the fact that we’ve had some hard-working, dedicated players,” he said.

Reynolds was especially pleased with a 5-4 victory over UC Irvine last week.

“That was a big win for us because of the rivalry between the two schools and it gave us a better seeding for the tournament,” he said. “We feel we’re very competitive with the schools in our league such as Irvine, Long Beach State and San Jose.”

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Reynolds believes his team has become deeper in the last two years, even though he has missed some of the top area players, who he says are getting full scholarships out of state.

“What we’re missing is that blue-chip player that can win in No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles. But it’s going to take a full ride to attract that type of player. And that’s the player who can move us into that top group of teams,” Reynolds said.

The Titans are only 4-15 in No. 1 singles this season.

Reynolds said he would need an additional $9,000 for a full NCAA scholarship. “I might be able to raise that with a summer camp, but there are so many of those going already, and I travel a lot in the summer with my job with the tennis association doing junior development work,” he said. “I have to count on that as part of my income. I’m afraid that I’ve just about exhausted all my outside sources of income for the program.”

Titan Notes

The Titans remain No. 1 in the three college baseball polls. Florida State is ranked No. 2 and Auburn No. 3. . . . Ted Silva was selected as one of five national players of the week by Collegiate Baseball and Big West pitcher of the week after his no-hitter Sunday. . . . Julie Knight was named gymnastics assistant coach of the year by the Western Regional Gymnastics Coaches Assn. . . . Catcher Brian Loyd will join teammate Mark Kotsay at USA Baseball’s June 7 camp in Millington, Tenn. The camp is a tryout for the team that will compete in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. . . . Obi Obadike set a school record at 10.90 in the 100 meters at the Steve Scott Invitational track meet at UC Irvine Saturday. Casie Lozano was the top collegiate finisher in the women’s 100 at 12.45.