Oct. 23, 2002

The University of Missouri tennis team will head to Tulsa, Oklahoma this week for the Omni Hotels Central Region Championships. The Missouri tennis team has qualified six singles players and three doubles teams for the tournament. Leading the way for the Tigers are junior Urska Juric, and sophomores Katka Sevcikova and Mary Barry. The three have qualified for the main singles draw which begins on Oct 24. Senior Kristina Olshanskaya, junior Britteny Holliday, and sophomore Lucie Ruskova will play in the singles qualifying round beginning on Oct. 23, in hopes of advancing to the main draw.

"I'm happy we got as many in as we did," MU head coach Blake Starkey said. "Our whole approach has been to just fight and work hard, and so far, it's been a solid fall."

Juric and Sevcikova became the first team in Mizzou history to win last year's Regional Championships, and look to defend their title this year. Two weeks ago the two had a very strong run at the Riviera All-American Championships in Los Angeles, California, where both defeated a number of nationally ranked-opponents in both singles and doubles. The two went 4-1 in doubles, and a combined 11-3 in singles at the tournament.

Aside from Juric and Sevcikova, the entire Tiger squad has competed well this fall. Cassie Drake won last weekend's B Flight Drake Invitational, and teammate Lucie Ruskova took home the C Flight Championship. Teammates Mary Barry and Kristina Olshanskaya both advanced to the semi-finals of the A Flight.

The tournament will consist of all teams from the Central Region. The top two finishers in singles and the doubles winner will advance to the National Indoor Championships on Nov. 7-10 in Dallas, Texas