Jan. 21, 2007
Columbia, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's tennis team is a little less than a week away from its first spring match, Jan. 27th at Saint Louis. MUTigers.com will take a look back at the fall season, which included the addition of three promising players, the emergence of two good doubles teams, MU's two active seniors gaining valuable experience playing top opponents in fall tournaments and two juniors poised to strengthen the Tigers' lineup.
NOTE: This is the second of four articles on the Mizzou women's tennis team. The next two articles will feature the Tiger juniors and a look at the schedule.
The senior class features two solid veterans in Erika Josbena and Amanda Pratzel. The class also includes Yelena Olshanskaya. Olshanskaya had a very solid year playing #1 for the Tigers all last year. She unfortunatley suffered a career-ending ACL injury at the 2006 Big 12 Championships and was placed on a medical last fall. Without Olshanskaya, Pratzel and Josbena will be the only two active seniors on the 2006-07 squad.
Josbena came to Mizzou as a freshman from Rose Valley, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia. Over her three and a half seasons in Columbia, she has compiled 45 singles victories. Currently, Josbena is No. 16 on the Mizzou All-Time career wins list, seven wins behind Olshanskaya's 52. Olshanskaya currently sits in 10th place on the list. With her next win, Josbena will tie three former Tigers with 46 victories (Lucie Ruskova, Joni Jordan and Andrea Friedman). Katka Sevcikova tops the list with 92 victories.
In singles action last season, Josbena earned a 13-16 mark while playing most of her matches at the No. 3 singles spot. In the fall tournaments, she played in the top draws and gained a great deal of experience that should propel her to a strong finish in her final season.
Josbena is also moving up the doubles career wins list. Josbena is currently No. 8 all-time in doubles wins with 54 and is just one victory behind former teammate, Kraftova, for No. 7. Former Tiger standout Katka Sevcikova tops the list with 111 victories. Former Tiger player, assistant coach, and now head coach at Drake University, Urska Juric is second with 95.
Josbena's previously-mentioned doubles partner, Pratzel, is entering her second spring season with the Tigers. The St. Louis native played her first two seasons in Norman, Okla., at the University of Oklahoma, before transferring to Missouri for the 2006 season. She finished the with a last season with a team-best 15-6 overall mark, primarily playing behind Josbena in the fourth and fifth singles positions. She competed in each of Mizzou's 11 Big 12 dual matches and finished with a 6-5 record in the fourth, fifth and sixth spots in the lineup.
Along with the Wagner/McKenzie doubles team, Josbena and Pratzel will form a key ingredient in Mizzou's doubles lineup. The duo paired to finish 10-9 last season, primarily at the second and third doubles spots. The duo started the fall by wining the Billiken Fall Classic and the Gopher Invitational and finished the fall at 10-7 overall. In the finals of the Gopher Invitational, they knocked off Iowa's top doubles team who was ranked #40 in the country at the time.
Prior to Olshanskaya's injury, the West Hollywood, California native was one of the Tigers' top performers. She earned a 13-15 record while playing at the No. 1 singles spot last season. Her successful junior season did not go un-noticed, as she finished the season ranked 28th in the ITA Central Region Singles Rankings. She finished her career with a 52-41 singles record, which placed her in No. 10 on the MU all-time wins list. Olshanskaya also finished the year with 13 doubles victories, while playing primarily in the No. 1 doubles spot with Chrissy Svetlic in 2005-06. The 13 wins gave her 36 for her career, which ranks No. 15 on MU's all-time doubles wins list. Had she not suffered the ACL and been able to play out this season, she was positioned to complete her career as one of the Tigers all-time best performers.
The Tigers will begin their season Jan. 27th in St. Louis when they match up against the Saint Louis Billikens, a team they saw several times this fall. The home opener at the Green Tennis Center Feb. 3rd against the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks at 1 p.m.
The next report will examine Mizzou's two juniors Charlotte Bellis and Chrissy Svetlic. The fourth and final report will take a look at the Tigers' spring schedule.