Women's Tennis Prepares For St. Louis

Feb. 12, 2002

NORMAN, Okla. - Oklahoma puts its flawless record on the line against St. Louis on Saturday, Feb. 16, at 3 p.m. The match will be at the Sante Fe Country Club in Oklahoma City. This is the last scheduled indoor match of the season before the Sooners head to their new facility, the University of Oklahoma Headington Family Tennis Center. Oklahoma opens play at the center on March 1 against Oral Roberts. Match time is set for 1:30 p.m. The Billikens enter Saturday's match with a 3-1 record with wins over Southeast Missouri State, Eastern Illinois and IUPU Fort Wayne with one loss to Iowa State.

Sooners Defeat New Mexico and Minnesota, Move to 4-0
The Oklahoma women's tennis team extended its winning streak to 4-0 with an upset victory over No. 59 New Mexico, 4-3, and a 5-2 win over Minnesota last week. This is the Sooners' best season start since winning their first 10 matches of th 1995-96 season. Junior Annette Bryntesson, sophomore Anda Perianu and freshman Heather Saluri won their singles matches against the Lobos. Saluri and freshman Bethany Griffin and Perianu and junior Elena Jirnova won close doubles matches to secure the victory. Perianu, Saluri, Griffin and freshman Jessica Braver took four singles matches over Minnesota, while the duos of Braver and Bryntesson and Jirnova and Perianu won their doubles matches 8-6 and 8-3, respectively.

Leading the Sooners
Sophomore newcomer Anda Perianu sports a perfect 3-0 record at No. 2 singles, while freshman Heather Saluri is undefeated in No. 2, 4 and 5 singles play at 4-0. Saluri is 7-0 on the year in singles play. The duo of Perianu and junior newcomer Elena Jirnova are 3-0 in No. 2 and 3 doubles action heading into the weekend.

Mark Johnson in 14th Year of Coaching
In his 14th year as head coach at OU, Mark Johnson began the 2002 season with two 7-0 wins over Oklahoma Baptist with his five newcomers winning all five singles matches. The Sooners recently defeated No. 59 New Mexico (4-3) and Minnesota (5-2). Johnson carries a 210-103 record (.671) and led his 1999 team to the championship match at the Big 12 Tournament, earning Big 12 Tri-Coach of the Year honors. Johnson has also coached five consecutive teams to ITA Academic All-America team honors dating back to the 1997 season. Johnson was named Big Eight Coach of the Year in 1991, 1994 and 1995 after leading his teams to a combined 60-16 record in those three years. He has coached three NCAA doubles qualifiers in Nicole Kenneally and Jenny Del Valle (1994), Monique Malan and Karla Golfin (1996) and Angela Stroup and Viviana Mracnova (2000), and two singles qualifiers in Nicole Kenneally (1994) and current OU assistant coach Raluca Gheorghe (1998).

The University of Oklahoma Headington Family Tennis Center
The Sooner men's and women's tennis teams will play in the newly constructed OU Headington Family Tennis Center this spring. After several years of playing on unfamiliar courts and not having a place to call home, the Sooners will compete on some of the finest courts in the state of Oklahoma. The new tennis center is equipped with 12 NCAA championship courts and NCAA championship lighting. There is permanent seating for up to 800 spectators. The center is located at the corner of Chatauqua and Imhoff, directly south of the OU Soccer Complex.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors