April 10, 2003

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The MU Tennis Team participates annually in a number of community service projects. As a team, the Tigers put in a day's work at the Central Missouri Food Pantry this past Saturday. The Tigers have also worked with area kids at the Green Tennis Center through the MU Ball Kid Program, have also participated in two Pro-Ams which serve as community mixers.

"Community service is one of the best and healthiest things anyone can do, period," said MU Assistant Cecily Dubusker. "Aside from tennis, I'm really happy we are involved with these kinds of things."

"Every time we do this, it just makes us look at our world and our situations differently," said MU senior Kristina Olshanskaya. "The feeling stays with you. It's good, and we always feel like we have done something important."

The #37 Tigers take to the road this weekend for key matches against #42 Tulsa, #35 Oklahoma State, and #26 Oklahoma. "I have a lot of respect for all three of these teams," said Blake Starkey. "This will be a great tennis weekend, and is a great opportunity for us. We are rested, and have had a great week of practice. Over the last couple of years, we have really upped our national schedule. If we want to be good now and in the future, these are exactly the challenges we need and the type of competition we need to be playing. All you do is get better when you play matches like these."

This will be the Tigers first match against Tulsa in five years, and Tulsa will return the trip to Columbia next year. Last year, the Tigers won a hard-fought decision against Oklahoma State 4-3 in Columbia, and dropped an equally hard-fought 4-3 decision to the Oklahoma Sooners in Columbia.

The Tigers return home for the final two regular-season matches of the year against Texas and Iowa State at the Green Tennis Center next weekend.