Oklahoma Women's Tennis

April 6, 1999

Up Next . . .

Iowa State and Nebraska will be the next Big 12 opponents for the Oklahoma women's tennis team who has won three of its last four matches. The Sooners travel to Ames, Iowa on Fri., April 9 to challenge Iowa State at 1 pm, followed by Nebraska in Lincoln on Sun., April 11 at 10 am.

Last Time Out . . .

OU Upsets No. 53 Tulsa -
Oklahoma upset its second higher ranked team within four days of each other as OU handed state rival Tulsa a shocking 5-4 loss at the TU Harwell Tennis Courts. OU took an early 4-2 advantage in singles but the Hurricane made it a match winning two of the three doubles for a final score of 5-4.

OU Shocks No. 47 Baylor -
OU extended its winning streak with a 6-3 win over No. 47 Baylor. The victory also marked the third win for the Sooners over a higher ranked opponents in the last four matches. OU's Raluca Gheorghe upset No. 66 Jahnavi Parekh 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 singles, while No. 63 Viviana Mracnova of OU shocked No. 53 Katja Kovac 6-2, 7-6. The two teams split the singles points (3-3) but OU captured the match by sweeping the doubles.

Scouting the Opponents . . .

Iowa State (5-10, 0-7 Big 12)
Iowa State currently is at the bottom of the Big 12 Conference with a winless mark of 0-7. The Cyclones lost their last match to Missouri, 6-3, but prior to that ISU had won four of its last five matches. Iowa State's top two singles players are Noortje Cornelissen, No. 1 (1-6) and Ann Simons, No. 2 (0-6).

No. 66 Nebraska (14-5, 2-4 Big 12)
Nebraska dropped to No. 66 in Tuesday's ITA Rankings. The Cornhuskers suffered back-to-back road losses last weekend to No. 32 Kansas, 7-2, and Kansas State, 6-3, ending an eight match winning streak. The Cornhuskers have only played three ranked teams compaired to OU's 10 nationally-ranked opponents. Heading the No. 1 singles position will be Sandra Noetzel who has a league record of 4-0, followed by Katarina Balan at No. 2 with a Big 12 mark of 2-4.

Sooners Improve National Ranking. . .

Oklahoma jumped to No. 56 from No. 61 on the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Ranking (ITA) which was released on Tuesday (April 6). The Sooners made the move with recent victories over higher ranked teams: No. 34 Texas A&M, 7-2, and No. 53 Tulsa, 5-4. Oklahoma will expect to continue to move up in the national rankings with a recent 6-3 win over No. 47 Baylor.

Mracnova & Guilford Are A Perfect Pair. . .

Not since the ORU match in the fall has sophomore Viviana Mracnova and junior Kristin Guilford played doubles together. Since their union on March 21 against Princeton, the duo has gone on a winning streak and now boast an undefeated record of 5-0 at the No. 2 doubles slot.

Tracking Mracnova and Guilford - No. 2 Doubles
Gayler Large and Amanda Phillips, Princeton, 8-5
Leah Killen and San Miguel, Texas A&M, 8-5
Kaysie Smashey and Michelle Faucher, Texas, Default
Sandra Sailer/Kerry-Lea Glass, Tulsa, 8-6
Karin Anderson and Paola Stephen, Baylor, 8-3

Sooner Notes. . .

Sophomore Viviana Mracnova drops to No. 99 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Rankings. She was ranked 63rd. Mracnova has an overall singles record of 12-7, including a recent upset win over No. 53 Katja Kovac of Baylor (6-2, 7-6).
Oklahoma has six doubles pairs that chart a flawless Big 12 record. Leading the chart is Angela Stroup and Jennie Hamilton who are 4-0 at the No. 3 doubles slot when playing conference opponents.
As a team, OU is ranked 56th in the nation.
Seniors Raluca Gheorghe and Danielle Knipp has the team's best singles record of 4-1 against Big 12 opponents. Knipp also is tied with junior Kristin Guilford with the most wins overall with 17 each. Three Sooners tie for second with 12 total wins; Gheorghe, Jennie Hamilton and Viviana Mracnova.
Junior Kristin Guilford charts the team's best overall singles record of 6-3 at the No. 5 position.
Junior Angela Stroup is the only Sooner who has not played more than one position this spring. Stroup is 7-8 in dual matches at the No. 6 singles.
OU has four players who have not seen action during the spring season: Lauren Allen, Barbie Bayless, Stephanie Sajbert and Katrin Schubart.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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