Undefeated Women's Tennis Team Travel To UNLV Invitational

Feb. 27, 2003

The No. 44 Oklahoma women's tennis team (6-0) returns to action this Friday, Feb. 28 at the 2003 UNLV Women's Tennis Spring Invitational. Tournament play for the second annual, event will run through March 2 at the Fertitta Tennis Complex in Las Vegas, Nev. The Sooners are one of eight teams competing in the tourament which also features host No. 17 UNLV, No. 57 New Mexico, No. 75 Cal State Northridge, Loyola Marymount, Montana State, Northern Arizona and Southwest Missouri State.

OU is scheduled to play Northern Arizona in the first round of play at 10 a.m. (PST) Friday afternoon. The Lumberjacks currently sport a record of 3-8 and are coming off a 6-1 defeat at the hands of No. 75 Hampton. The winner will face the victor of the contest between New Mexico and Loyola Marymount.

Sooners Edge Higher-Ranked Golden Hurricane
OU survived its biggest test of the season so far as the Sooners upset No. 42 Tulsa, 4-3, on Feb. 13, at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla. Not only did the Sooners push their win streak to six straight, they also moved to 3-0 against Central Region opponents.

OU Women Move Up In ITA National Rankings
With a 4-3 win over Tulsa, the OU women jumped 11 spots from 55th to 44th in the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings. In the individual rankings, junior Anda Perianu (Braila, Romania) currently sports a 4-1 record in the spring and is ranked 74th in the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings. Perianu is 9-3 overall this season and looking to repeat the successes of last season when she was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Regionally, Perianu is ranked third.

In doubles, Perianu and sophomore Heather Saluri (Des Moines, Iowa) are currently 3-0 in match play after their victory over TU's Aleksandra Durska and Alicia Pillay who are ranked 30th by the ITA. Perianu and Saluri are ranked 50th by the ITA and are ranked third in the regional rankings.

Johnson In 15th Year At Oklahoma
In his 15th year as head coach at OU, Mark Johnson began the 2003 season with three consecutive victories to add to his overall record of 229-111 record (.673).

Johnson led his 1999 team to the championship match at the Big 12 Tournament, earning Big 12 Tri-Coach of the Year honors and 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 three singles qualifiers in Nicole Kenneally (1994), current OU assistant coach Raluca Gheorghe (1998) and current player Anda Perianu (2002).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Undefeated Women's Tennis Team Travel To UNLV Invitational

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