22 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 18, 1995



SISTERS
Continued from page 21
A year later, Liz played 12-and-
under tournaments while her sister
played in the 10-and-under flight.
The two travelled around the
country together, but always played
in separate age brackets. Sarah
played in the same bracket as
Jennifer Capriati, who began her
professional tennis career at 13.
*. *
By the time Liz was a senior in
high school and Sarah a freshman,
both were nationally ranked in the
top 100. Each attributes her own
success in part to hard work.
However, the competitive nature
certainly runs in the family, and
their biggest asset has been each
other's
encouragement.
"It's like you
x have an instant
A practice partner,"
Sarah says.
Obviously, the
Liz Cyganlak two young stars
shone brighter
than the others on their tennis team
- Liz played No. I singles and
Sarah played No. 2. They never
faced off to challenge for the top
spot.
"It was basically decided for us
- our parents decided and our high
school coach did, too," Sarah says.
"I had to accept it. I couldn't
challenge it, but it wasn't that big of
a deal," she remembers.
The two sisters led their high
school team to more success than it
had in years, but both remember
their season together as more fun
than challenge.
"In high school, we'd have races
to see who could get off the court
faster," Liz recalls, smiling.
.**
But as the end of high school
tennis loomed ahead for Liz, so did
her decision about where to play in
college. With no pro tennis
aspirations, she looked for a good
engineering school in the midwest
- Liz had already decided on
chemical engineering.
On a recruiting trip to Michigan,
she met Dale Briggs, chairman of
the chemical engineering
department, and many other
Michigan faculty and students.
"They took pride in everything
they did and I wanted to be in that
atmosphere," Liz says.
So after another long summer of
tournaments across the country, she
packed for Michigan, passing down
the No. 1 singles spot to her
younger sister.
Sarah says her sister's departure
didn't affect her mindset or her game.
"We'd been playing together all
our lives, but there was so much
else going on," Sarah remembers.
Neither does Liz remember any
particular hardship during her
transition. "I was in a new situation,
I was moving on. It wasn't ever
traumatic," the elder Cyganiak says.
Liz moved into the No. 6 singles
spot her first year at Michigan and
moved up to the No. 4 spot by her
younger sister's senior season in
high school.
By that time, it was Sarah's turn

to decide where to go to college.
Her options were more vast, thanks
to heavy recruiting by college -
coaches all over the country, who
liked the quick prodigy's aggressive
style. The younger Cyganiak was
already nationally ranked - she is
currently No. 59 in the country.
"Sarah is one of the best recruits
we've landed in years," says assistant
coach Susan Sommerville, bragging
at a conference earlier this season.
Sarah took recruiting trips to
tennis powerhouse schools like
Duke, Notre Dame and Stanford,
but decided on Michigan without
much thought, she says.
"Definitely, I was looking at a
whole range of schools, but the fact
that Liz was here - I'd seen so
much of Michigan already, and I
sensed that same sense of pride,"
the younger Cyganiak says, adding
that "the business school was a
huge attribute, too."
Head coach Bitsy Ritt said that
Liz's position on the team helped
bring Sarah to Michigan.
"Liz was our main drawing card
to Michigan. They're very close -
their family is very close," Ritt says.
Unlike her older sister, Sarah
wants to go into international
business, but is also interested in
Spanish. Michigan felt like home
already, and the Wolverine squad
had a scholarship to offer.
"Coming into an upcoming
program and really making an
impact was a challenge," Ritt says.
So after graduating from high
school in September 1993, the
younger Cyganiak squeezed her
way into the Wolverine line-up
midseason at No. 2 singles behind
Bojana Jankovic, bumping Liz
down to No. 5. The sisters teamed
up in the No. 2 doubles spot, where
they decided many matches for the
Wolverines.
Collegiate dual matches consist
of six singles matches and three
doubles matches, so the overall
meet score is a reflection of total
matches won for each team.
"There were a lot of 4-4 matches
where we were the last doubles on
the court, and then we won the dual
matches, 5-4," Liz says, pointing
out matches against Notre Dame
and Wisconsin - who the
Wolverines beat last year after
losing the previous eleven meetings
against the Badgers.
"The fact that we were sisters -
there was a lot of heart in the
matches," Sarah says, recalling in
particular the match against
Wisconsin, when the Cyganiak
doubles team was the only one left
playing and the rest of the
Wolverines were cheering from
outside the fence.
"I was against my doubles partner
from juniors and I remember
thinking, 'I am not going to lose to
her in doubles,"' Sarah says.
Ritt split the sisters up this year,
teamming Sarah with Sora Moon at
No. 1 doubles and Liz with
Jankovic at No. 3.
"They had a great year last year
and won several big matches," Ritt
says. "In January, they weren't
having the success they had the
previous season. In looking at the

personnel of the team, we decided
to make a change."
Sarah has taken over the No. I
singles spot for the Wolverines, She
has a 31-12 record, and is undefeated
in the Big Ten. Liz is still in the No. 5
spot, with a 18-13 singles record and
undefeated at doubles.
The team, currently ranked No.
35 in the country, is 8-2, with losses
to Northwestern and Indiana.
Sometimes at practice, the two
play a set together, or just work on
their strokes. Sometimes, they work
out together in off-season
conditioning. But never, in all their
years on the junior circuit, high
school competition or collegiate
play have they faced each other on
opposite ends of the court.
Until that August day last
summer.

4
k

19

* *.
"They really talked me into
going out there," says Jon
Cyganiak. But their father did not
regret making the trip to New York,
as his daughters were showcased in
the final match.
The crowd at Amateurs had a
special treat in store that day, as the
Cyganiak sisters took the court.
"Both of them wanted to win
badly, and they played hard," the
Cyganiaks' father recalls. "It was
fun, smoking my cigar in a lawn
chair while they fought it out."
The sisters both remember the
match vividly, and how badly they
each wanted to win.
"We were really going at it - it
was not a friendly little thing," Liz
says. "I was just working so hard
and I wanted it so bad and she was
just destroying me. I was just
running corner to corner to corner."
Despite taking a beating in the first
set - Sarah won 6-1 - Liz fought
back hard, barely losing the second
set, 4-6, and stretching the match
out to two hours.
Sarah praises her sister's
persistence and endurance.
"She hits with a lot of spin to get
out of my strike zone. She moves
the ball around the
court, but she'll sit
out there all day if
she has to," the
younger Cyganiak
says. "I'm not that
patient."
Sarah Cyganiak Ritt says,
"Sara's more of
an agressive baseliner. She looks
for opportunities to open up her
court and tries to create openings.
She's constantly looking to move
forward on the court."
Indeed, the sisters' styles are
markedly different. One could easily
expect this - they have taken lessons
separately and played in separate
tournaments all their lives. :
But here they are, roommates at
Michigan.
Just as in high school tennis,
Sarah is just coming into her
collegiate career - although she is
a sophomore - and Liz is finishing
off her senior year of eligibility. "I
get to be a real person now," the
older sister says.
"I've never viewed Sarah as a
rival, just as someone who's a goodV
friend - a best friend," Liz says of
her younger sister.

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