Sept. 15, 2003
Columbia, Mo.--The Mizzou Tiger tennis team sends three individuals and one doubles team to the Mizzou 4-Way finals on Sunday.
The Tigers are assured of winning the B singles division as freshman Yelena Olshanskaya and fellow teammate Mary Barry both won two matches to make it to the final round of competition.
In the A singles division, #24 ranked Urska Juric had another good day winning two matches to advance to the A final where she will take on #32 Linna Suuvarik of Illinois State.
Juric's doubles partner, Katka Sevcikova blew out her first two opponents before barely missing the finals by dropping a close and hard-fought semi-final match to Suuvarik, 7-5, 6-4. Despite the individual loss, Sevcikova reaffirmed her ability in Mizzou's top doubles tandem. The duo won two matches to advance to the final round where they will take on ISU's Suuvarik/Miller.
"It's so early in the year, and it's been good to get in a lot of matches for our kids", said MU Coach Blake Starkey. "We've shown some good things, but we have a lot to work on. Katka, in particular, competed really hard today and came up just short against an outstanding player in ISU's Linna Suuvarik. Linna is a dangerous player, and we're really going to have to be at the top of our game in both singles and doubles tomorrow. Yelena has been winning fairly easily while Mary has had to claw for everything. The B final between them will be fun to watch."
All finals will be played Sunday, September 14 at 10:00 a.m., at the Green Tennis Center.
DAY #2 RESULTS
A SINGLES
#24 Juric (MU) def. Skoda (Kansas), 6-1, 6-1
#24 Juric (MU) def. Haylock (Kansas), 6-3, 6-1
Sevcikova (MU) def. Sechuad (ISU), 6-0, 6-0
#32 Suuvarik (ISU) def. Sevcikova (MU) 7-5, 6-4
Kraftova (MU) def. Sechuad (ISU), 6-2, 6-3
#32 Suuvarik (ISU) def. Kraftova (MU) 6-3, 6-3
Miller (ISU) def. Josbena (MU), 6-4, 6-4
Ward (Murray) def. Josbena (MU) 6-4, 6-3
B SINGLES
Olshanskaya (MU) def. Louriero (Kansas), 6-3, 6-0
Olshanskaya (MU) def. Hall (Murray), 6-1, 6-2
Barry (MU) def. Filberth (Kansas), 6-0, 6-4
Barry (MU) def. Pruitt (Murray) 7-5, 6-4
Pruitt (Murray) def. Ruskova (MU) 6-2, 6-2
Lask (Murray) def. Ruskova (MU) 7-6 (5), 6-4
Crull (MU) def. Louriero (Kansas), 0-6, 6-0, 10-5
Hall (Murray) def. Crull (MU) 7-5, 6-7 (3), 10-8
DOUBLES
#9 Juric/Sevcikova (MU) def. Lask/Lask (Murray), 8-5
#9 Juric/Sevcikova (MU) def. Spencer/Leeper (Murray), 8-3
Suuvarik/Miller (ISU) def. Ruskova/Kraftova (MU), 8-6
Haylock/Steinbock (Kansas) def. Barry/Josbena (MU) 9-7