University of Missouri
Eastern Illinois
Tiger Tennis Wins Season Opener
1/25/2003 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
Jan. 25, 2003
The University of Missouri tennis team started off the season on a positive note by beating the Eastern Illinois Panthers 6-1. The Tigers took two of three double matches to win the doubles point and took five of the six singles matches to grab five more points.
The Tigers played without there top two players, Urska Juric and Katka Sevcikova, but were still able to defeat the Panthers. Juric and Sevcikova are ranked fifth in the nation in doubles. Missouri head tennis coach Blake Starkey said, "The ranking is great but we have to win as a team and we did that today. We had to pretend that Urska and Katka were not part of our team and just go out there and win. It was risky but I wanted to see how we would react." Mary Barry had an excellent day winning against Eastern Illinois' top player in singles and winning her doubles match with her partner Lucie Ruskova. Barry won the first set 6-2 but lost the second one 3-6. Barry fought back after being down in the third set to win 7-5. Lucie Ruskova also was impressive in a 6-3, 6-2 win over Amber Lenfert. Coach Starkey was also impressed with newcomer Hana Kraftova who won her singles match over EIU's Becky Brunner 6-3, 6-2. Kraftova made quite splash in her first collegiate match. In doubles, she teamed with Mary Barry, often dictating play in the #1 doubles win. Trailing 5-1 in singles, she fought back to win the set in a tiebreaker, and then picked up the second 6-1."Hana was a little flat at the beginning. She's a fighter though. She's smart, and clearly has high expectations when she's out there. I think Columbia is going to enjoy watching this kid over the next few years," said MU coach, Blake Starkey. Every Tiger that played either won their singles match, doubles match, or both.
Coach Starkey said, "We've gotten to the point where this program expects to have some success." The Tigers are 1-0 and take on Drake on Saturday and Texas A&M on Sunday. Both matches are at the Green Tennis Center.
