Tigers Receive Highest National Ranking in Program History
3/21/2002 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
March 21, 2002
COLUMBIA, MO. -- The University of Missouri tennis team has moved up in the latest ITA rankings from No. 70 to No. 55. The latest rank is the highest for the Tigers in program history.
"This is great for our players, and I'm very happy for them," women's tennis coach Blake Starkey said. "We had a huge national win a week ago. Our players have worked so hard, and they deserve this. This shows the strength and pairity of the Big 12 on the national level. We've got seven teams in there (the rankings) right now."
Last weekend the Tigers defeated No. 23 Oklahoma State and then dropped a heartbreaker to Texas Tech. Individually, sophomore Urska Juric, Missouri's No. 1 singles player, helped lead the Tigers by defeating the OSU's Dominika Olzewska and Texas Tech's Irina Tereschenko. For her efforts, she was named Big 12 Player of the Week.
"This says something about the whole team," Starkey said. Some of the top kids get a lot of credit, but this doesn't happen unless the whole team is on the same page. All in all, now that we've got this beautiful brand new new indoor facility, and as young as we are, I think our future is pretty bright."
Mizzou will travel to St. Louis this weekend to take on St. Louis University and Creighton University.
