University of Missouri
Stephen F. Austin
Tigers Defeat No. 70 SMU, Then Stephen F. Austin
2/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
Feb. 15, 2009
Dallas, Texas - The Missouri Tigers (3-2, 0-0 Big 12) returned home from Texas with two wins, taking down No. 70 nationally-ranked Southern Methodist, 5-2, followed by a sweeping of Stephen F. Austin (1-4, 0-0 Southland Conference). Both duals took place on the SMU campus in Dallas. The Tigers faced SMU at 9:00 a.m. and SFA at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 14), playing their first outdoor matches since mid-January.
After taking the doubles point Missouri went on to grab four of six singles matches and the dual victory, 5-2, over SMU (10-2, 3-0 Conference USA). "We were able to put together some key victories to earn the win for our team. The girls played really hard," said coach Blake Starkey.
Starkey also knows the challenging conditioning he has been working with his girls has paid off. The Tigers' four singles victories were all decided in three sets. “Considering it was outdoors on their courts our conditioning definitely kicked in. We dropped a lot of first sets, but oddly, I wasn't that worried. We battled back in the third sets," said Starkey. “Our girls really fought hard today.”
At the No. 3 singles match MU's Jamie Mera paired up with SMU's junior Nicole Briceno, the reigning Conference USA Player of the Week. In one of the most exciting matches of the day Mera took Briceno into three sets defeating her in the tie-breaking set for the victory, 7-6, (5) 6-4.
The Tigers earned their second victory of the day, third on the season, a little after 5:00 pm. as they easily handled the Ladyjacks, 7-0. Senior Jessica Giuggioli returned to the No. 1 position to lead the Tiger victory. Giuggioli faced Roxana Enica of SFA who was named the Southland Conference Player of the Week on Feb. 3. After a tie-breaking third set Giuggioli claimed the win, the rest of Mizzou following suit. With the exception of Sofia Ayala defeating Tatiana Smolnikova in three, each of the Tiger wins was decided in two sets.
The Missouri women will be back in action Friday (Feb. 20) where the Tigers will play host to Drake University. The ladies will also welcome the University of Minnesota to the Green Tennis Center for a dual match-up on Saturday (Feb. 21) Play will begin at 5:00 p.m. on Friday and 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is free.
Final Team: Missouri 5 Southern Methodist 2
Doubles Results
No. 1 Mera/Weber (MIZ) def. Bubien and Francis (SMU) 8-5
No. 2 Ritchie/Giuggioli (MIZ) def. Neveklovska/Reid (SMU) 8-4
No. 3 Briceno/Tokarieva (SMU) def. Ayala/Day (MIZ) 8-6
Singles Results
No. 1 Natalia Bubein (SMU) def. Mallory Weber (MIZ) 6-2, 6-4
No. 2 Jessica Giuggioli (MIZ) def. Pavi Francis (SMU) 6-4, 0-6, 6-4
No. 3 Jamie Mera (MIZ) def. Nicole Briceno (SMU) 7-6, (5) 6-4
No. 4 Danielle Day (MIZ) def. Kristen Reid (SMU) 2-6, 7-5, 6-2
No. 5 Kaitlyn Ritchie (MIZ) def. Kseniia Tokarieva (SMU) 1-6, 6-3, 6-0
No. 6 Monica Neveklovska (SMU) def. Maureen Modesto 6-4 6-2
Final Team: Missouri 7 Stephen F. Austin 0
Doubles Resutls
No. 1 R. Enica/Shazhko (SFA) def. Mera/Weber (MIZ) 8-4
No. 2 Ritchie/Giuggioli (MIZ) def. Gadeva / Smolnikolva (SFA) 8-1
No. 3 Ayala/Day (MIZ) Williams/A. Enica (SFA) 8-1
Singles Results
No. 1 Jessica Giuggioli (MIZ) def. Roxana Enica (SFA) 4-6, 6-4 (10-7)
No. 2 Jamie Mera (MIZ) def. Alina Shazhko (SFA) 6-3, 6-4
No. 3 Danielle Day (MIZ) def. Sanjana Kapur (SFA) 6-3, 6-1
No. 4 Kaitlyn Ritchie (MIZ) def. Gabriela Gadeva (SFA) 6-1, 6-2
No. 5 Sofia Ayala (MIZ) def. Tatiana Smolnikova (SFA) 6-3, 7-6, (2)
No. 6 Maureen Modesto (MIZ) def. Mary Harrison (SFA) 6-2, 6-1
Players Mentioned
