Seeing Martinez is Believing for USD’s Collins

SAN DIEGO —  Coming out of St. Augustine High two years ago, two-time Section boys’ champion Ignacio Martinez was one of the top college tennis prospects in San Diego County. But you couldn’t have proved it by Ed Collins, University of San Diego’s men’s tennis coach.

Collins had never seen him play.

Still, he recruited Martinez, who lived in Mexico City until he was 16, on the advice of others. Once Collins saw Martinez play, he realized why everybody was so high on him.

“I had no idea that he was as good as he was,” Collins said. “I just never found time to see him.”

Martinez, who graduated from St. Augustine in 1990, sat out last year improving his English and playing ATP satellite events. He signed with USD last spring.

He quickly turned heads when he defeated Kevin Bradley, USD’s No. 3 player, in a September tryout tournament.

Based on Martinez’s fall results, he appears to be USD’s second-best player, behind Jose Luis Noriega. Martinez advanced farther than any USD player at last week’s Rolex-ITCA Regionals at UC Irvine--making the round of 16 before losing to Lazlo Marcovits of UC Santa Barbara, 7-6, 7-6.

“Physically, he’s as complete a player as I’ve ever had, including Noriega,” Collins said. “He has an all-court game. He’s been very well coached. He’s very orthodox. He has no technical limitations.”

But Collins said Martinez does have some mental limitations to his game. He used Martinez’s loss to Marcovits as an example.

“He blew a 5-1 lead in the second set,” Collins said. “He rushes when he plays. Not a lot of thought goes into his game right now. He is not analyzing and thinking. It’s more of a stream-of-physical-consciousness thing.”

Martinez and USD will play Dec. 2-8 at the All-College Tournament, hosted by USD.

Weathering the storm: Point Loma Nazarene’s cross country team ventures to the NAIA championships in Kenosha, Wis. every year with dreams of a top-10 finish. But every year the winds whipping off Lake Michigan and the sub-freezing temperatures jolt the men’s and women’s teams back to reality. PLNC’s best showing has been 12th-place finishes by the men in 1981 and 1990.

PLNC Coach Jim Crakes attempted to overcome the psychological and physical barrier two years ago when he gave his runners caps and masks to wear. But Crakes said the extra gear slowed his runners down more than anything.

“We’ve never performed up to the level we’re capable of,” Crakes said. “The weather has intimidated us the past.”

Crakes enters Saturday’s NAIA championships with what might be his best teams ever. The men’s team is ranked seventh nationally and the women are ranked 11th. But Crakes said he is approaching things differently this year.

“We’re working on the mental aspect instead of the physical part of it,” Crakes said. “We’re hoping we can overcome the little fears.”

New coach, new attitude: Sue Hegerle-Snyder, USD women’s volleyball coach, had quite a reclamation project when she took over the program two years ago. The team was coming off a 2-26 campaign and the program had not enjoyed a winning season since 1982.

The Toreros came within a game of a winning season last year, finishing 15-16. With four games remaining this year, the Toreros (17-11) have clinched a winning season.

Snyder said the biggest difference has been the attitude of her team. She has five players back from the 2-26 team.

“There was some apathy here before,” Snyder said. “That whole spring when I took over we tried to make the kids proud to be on the USD team. Before, they wouldn’t even tell people they were on the team.”

Snyder said it took a year for her players to start believing in themselves.

“It was easier for them to lose the match than to push through and win,” she said. “It was their feeling that, ‘You know you’re going to lose so let’s go lose it quickly.’ ”

With three victories in their last four games, the Toreros would have a shot at the National Invitation Volleyball Championships in Dayton, Ohio on Dec. 3.