July 14, 2009
Columbia, MO - During their 2008-09 campaign coach Blake Starkey and the Missouri tennis squad impressed with an improved two wins in conference play and a season that featured consecutive weeks ranked nationally. With two seniors on the team the ladies faced one of the toughest schedules Starkey has put together in a long time pairing up against four Big Ten powerhouses before a grueling Big 12 schedule. The ladies capped the season with their first post-season victory in four years taking down Border Showdown Rival Kansas for the second time of the year.
Starkey has begun to focus recruiting in the United States and his time paid off in double during 2008-09. Adding two Florida natives to the roster proved to be just what Starkey and the Tigers were looking for. Freshman Jamie Mera joined the Mizzou line-up in the fall and wasted no time recording wins. Mera and sophomore Mallory Weber teamed up for doubles play and in their first competition of the season the ladies claimed the doubles championship, beating fellow Tigers Jessica Giuggioli and Kaitlyn Ritchie in the final at the Mizzou Invitational I.
Mizzou's talent shined during it's fall campaign which consisted of four tournaments. The ladies racked up six individual bracket champions along with one doubles title over their fall season. The Tigers' success carried over to their spring season as they kicked things off in Florida at the Johan Kriek Classic. With the addition of their second Florida-native, Danielle Day, the Tigers went undefeated during their stay down south. Day also went undefeated while in her home state and continued to roll winning nine of her first 10 matches for Missouri.
Knowing to be the best you must compete with the best Starkey lined up four opponents from the highly competitive Big Ten conference before beginning conference play. Going up against three ranked opponents during their Big Ten stint the Tigers fought hard but came up just shy of a win. Though, inbetween Big Ten competition the Tigers went on a five-meet winning streak highlighted with an impressive 5-2 win over No. 70 Southern Methodist. The win over a school known for it's highly competitive tennis program springboarded Mizzou to a 7-0 victory over Stephen F. Austin on the same day. Starkey knew the competitive pre-season schedule would set up the ladies for a strong start in Big 12 play.
The Tigers kicked off conference play with their first win over the Oklahoma Sooners since 2001, just the second victory over OU in program history. (Both wins were recorded under Coach Starkey.) The Sooners jumped out quickly taking the doubles point and took a 2-0 lead after an undefeated Ana-Maria Constantinescu recorded a victory over Weber at No. 1. But those would be the only wins going OU's way as Missouri rallied back to take singles matches No. 2 through No. 6, and the meet, 5-2. "This is why we played such a tough pre-season schedule," Starkey said following the win. "Everything is starting to pay off."
Next Mizzou dropped a 4-3 heartbreaker to Oklahoma State before spending a weekend in Kansas as they faced rivals Kansas State and Kansas.The ladies beat the Wildcats in Manhattan 4-3 on Saturday before traveling to Lawrence on Sunday for a dual with the Jayhawks.Mizzou snagged the doubles point and jumped out to a 2-0 lead after Day took down her opponent at No. 5. The Jayhawks tied the team score with singles wins at No. 3 and then No. 1, but it was all Tigers after that. Weber earned the match-winning fourth point for the second consecutive meet and led Missouri to it's second win in as many days, marking it's third in Big 12 play.
The ladies then hosted two Texas schools, Texas Tech and Baylor, before traveling to the Lonestar state themselves for more conference competition against Texas A&M and Texas. Mizzou came up short in each match against the southern opponents, but not without putting up a fight. Mera and Weber helped earn the doubles point over Texas recording a win over No. 25 ranked partners Marija Milic and Vanja Corovic. Mera also recorded her 14th singles victory on the spring season while in Texas. Sofia Ayala and Day won both doubles matches while in Texas and Ayala earned her 11th singles match of the spring.
Missouri finished it's season at home with three more conference matches. After two tough 4-3 losses to Colorado and Nebraska the Tigers were hungry for a win heading into the Big 12 Championships. In their final home match of the season Mizzou came out quickly sweeping the doubles matches and taking a 1-0 lead. The Cyclones earned two singles victories but Mera took down her opponent at No. 2 to tie the score at two. At No. 4 Marie Chartier and Day went into three sets. Chartier slightly edged Day in the final set, 6-4. With the No. 5 and 6 matches remaining Missouri would need both to pull off the win. Ritchie wasted no time putting her opponent to rest with a 7-6, 6-1 victory before Ayala sealed the win for the Tigers with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 6. At home Missouri sported a 4-7 record, 4 of those losses determined by a 4-3 score.
With a 4-7 conference record the Tigers headed to Norman, Okla., for the Big 12 Championships seeded No. 8. In the first round Missouri faced No. 9 Kansas. After taking the doubles point the Tigers quickly grabbed three singles wins to earn a 4-1 victory. In the second round of the tournament Mizzou would face No. 1 Baylor, then ranked No. 4 in the country. Baylor took a 4-0 win over Mizzou ending an exciting season for the Tigers.
Two seniors will leave but not before making their mark in program history. Giuggioli competed at the No. 1 position for most of the season demonstrating hardwork and leadership for the Tigers throughout. Ayala recorded 24 wins over the 2008-09 campaign placing her tied for 13th on Mizzou's all-time singles wins list. Mera also earned herself a spot on the list tied for 14th finishing with 23 singles victories during her freshman season.
The Tigers were ranked as high at No. 58 nationally during the season and remained in the top 75 for the majority of 2009. In a year frequented with highlights and exciting team victories Missouri showed much promise for the years to come.