March 30, 2007

Columbia, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's tennis team goes on its final road trip of the season this weekend as they face No. 69 Texas Tech and No. 16 Baylor in Texas. The Tigers are coming off their New York road trip, where they split their two matches, losing to Syracuse, but defeating Army, to improve to 6-8 on the spring. Going into the weekend, the Tigers are 1-5 in Big 12 play.

Saturday's match is scheduled for noon, while Sunday's contest will begin at 11 a.m. Live stats for each match are available on Texas Tech's web site, texastech.com and Baylor's web site, baylorbears.com.

Tiger Notes

New York Trip

The Tigers flew to New York last weekend and lost to Syracuse, 5-2, before defeating Army, 6-1. In the Syracuse match, freshmen Kaitlin Dunham and Katelyn McKenzie picked up the Tigers' only two points of the day. Sunday was a better day for Mizzou, as they defeated Army, 6-1. McKenzie and Dunham each picked up another win, and Pratzel, Svetlic and Bellis also left the Empire State with singles victories.

Svetlic Still Leading Tigers in Wins

With her win Sunday, Svetlic is 17-12 overall and 6-8 in the spring. Her 17 wins is one more than McKenzie's 16 for the team lead. Svetlic is five wins away from 15th on Mizzou's singles season wins list, with at least seven matches left.

Pratzel Earns Another Win at No. 1

Senior Amanda Pratzel is 2-5 in her seven matches at No. 1 this spring, including a win last Sunday at Army. This was her first win at No. 1 since moving up to the top spot March 12th. Pratzel was 5-2 at No. 2 before moving up, giving her a 7-7 record this spring. She will face van der Drift and Zemenova this weekend.

McKenzie and Wagner Back to No. 1 Doubles

Mizzou's duo of McKenzie and Wagner will likely slide back into the No. 1 spot this weekend against Big 12 competitors. Pratzel and Josbena stepped into the No. 1 spot last weekend and lost their two matches, while McKenzie and Wagner won their matches at No. 2. The duo is 4-8 at the No. 1 spot this spring.

No. 69 Texas Tech

The Tigers sit behind the Lady Raiders in the rankings, but ahead of them in the Big 12 standings, as Tech has yet to win a conference match (0-4). Their last loss came from the racquets of No. 36 Texas, 6-1, Thursday in Lubbock. Texas Tech is 7-7 overall.

Lady Raiders

Sophomore Samantha van der Drift leads the Lady Raiders at No. 1 singles with a 10-4 record this spring. She has lost her last two matches, to No. 61 Vanja Corovic of Texas and No. 50 Imke Reimers of Nebraska. She also lost to CU's Monica Milewski earlier in the year, who is now ranked 35th in the nation. Her only Big 12 win came against Oklahoma State's Iryna Tkachenko March 4th. Lakann Wagley is 8-6 on the spring in the No. 2 spot for the Lady Raiders. She has also lost her last two matches, but she has picked up two Big 12 wins this spring, as she beat CU's Camila Belassi and Oklahoma's Monica Purice.

Series

Mizzou is 2-8 all-time against Texas Tech after a 5-2 Tech win last season in Columbia. Mizzou's last win was in 2004, a 5-2 victory over the Lady Raiders in Columbia.

No. 16 Baylor

After facing one of the Big 12's winless conference teams Saturday, the Tigers will travel to Waco to face the 16th-ranked Baylor Bears, who come into their Friday night match against Kansas at 11-6 overall and 4-1 in the Big 12, good enough for third place behind No. 14 Texas A&M and No. 36 Texas.

Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

MU senior Amanda Pratzel will have her hands full with 2005 NCAA Champion Zuzana Zemenova, who is ranked 28th in the country and is 8-3 at the No. 1 spot for the Bears, with a 3-0 mark in Big 12 play. 49th-ranked Zuzana Cerna is 9-3 on the season in positions 1, 2 and 3. Cerna is currently on a six-match win streak at No. 2 and No. 3. She will play MU junior Chrissy Svetlic Sunday at No. 2 singles. Even the Bears' No. 3 singles player, Lenka Broosova, is ranked in the top-100 (93). She is 9-2 on the spring at No. 3 and she will face MU's Erika Josbena. Josbena and Pratzel will also face a ranked doubles team, the 38th-ranked duo of Broosova and Klara Zrustova at No. 2 doubles.

Series

The Tigers are winless in 10 chances against Baylor. Last season, Mizzou fell, 5-2, in Columbia.

After Baylor

The Tigers will return to Columbia for four matches to close out the regular season, starting next Saturday (April 7) against Kansas. The Border Showdown match, presented by the Midwest Ford Dealers, will start at 1 p.m. Admission to the match is free and Tiger fans are encouraged to cheer on their team as they look to improve their standing in the Big 12 before the post-season tournament.