March 16, 2006

Columbia, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's tennis team will travel to the state of Colorado to play Air Force and No. 39 Colorado this weekend.

Friday, the Tigers will play Air Force in Colorado Springs at 10 a.m. Saturday, they will travel to Boulder to face Big 12 foe No. 39 Colorado at 11 a.m.

On the trip, Missouri will try to improve on a 5-5 overall record. The start of the Big 12 season has been tough for the Tigers, as they sit at 0-4 after four matches against ranked conference teams.

Tiger Notes

Last Match Last Saturday, The Tigers were downed by then-No. 11 Baylor 5-2 at the Green Tennis Center. The match started outside in warm sunshine before a strong thunderstorm hit Columbia, forcing the match to be finished inside. In singles action the Tigers got a win from Amanda Pratzel at the No. 5 spot, and Missouri won the No. 6 match by default. In doubles play, the Tiger duo of Chrissy Svetlic and Val Dandik won their No. 3 match 8-6.

Pratzel Continues Her Winning Ways Tiger junior Amanda Pratzel is 8-2 on the season, playing in the No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 singles spots. Pratzel won last weekend against Baylor's Rachel Clark 6-0, 6-1 at the No. 5 spot. In doubles action, Pratzel teams up with Erika Josbena to play primarily at the No. 3 position. Last weekend, the duo moved up to the No. 1 spot and lost to Baylor's 24th-ranked duo of Zuzana Cerna and Klara Zrustova 8-1. Overall Josbena and Pratzel are 7-3, playing at the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 spots.

Kraftova Expected to Miss This Weekend's Matches Tiger senior Hana Kraftova is not expected to play this weekend because of a back injury. Kraftova was out last week because of the same injury.

Tiger Opponents

Air Force (Fri March 17) The Air Force Falcons are 7-10 on the season, with a 1-1 Mountain West Conference record. Last Sunday, the Falcons lost 5-2 to Colorado State in Colorado Springs. Missouri won the last match between the two teams. The 55th-ranked Tigers defeated the Falcons 7-0 in Columbia last year.

No. 39 Colorado (Sat March 18) The 39th-ranked Buffaloes are 8-4 overall and 2-3 in the Big 12 after losing to then-No. 55 Nebraska on Sunday in Lincoln, Neb. In the match, CU's No. 55 Monica Milewski defeated Nebraska's No 95 Imke Reimers in the No. 2 spot. Last season, the then-No. 72 Tigers defeated then-No. 46 Colorado 4-3 in Columbia.

Up Next For Missouri After this weekend's two matches, the Tigers will not play again until Sun April 2 when they host Oklahoma State at noon. The match will be held at the Green Tennis Center and the public is welcome to attend.