Women's Tennis Prepares For No. 37 Baylor and No. 46 Colorado

April 16, 2003

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NORMAN, Okla. - The 24th-ranked Oklahoma women's tennis team (18-3, 7-2 Big 12) enters the home stretch of the 2003 regular season riding a six-match win streak including three victories over ranked opponents. It doesn't get any easier this week as the Sooners go up against a pair of ranked conference opponents in No. 37 Baylor and No. 46 Colorado. OU is 9-3 this season when playing ranked opponents.

It's a battle for first place in the Big 12 Conference on Thursday, April 17, as the Sooners takes on the 37th-ranked Baylor Bears in their final home match of the season at the OU Headington Family Tennis Center. Play is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Baylor currently holds the top spot in the Big 12 standings with a record of 8-1 while also owning an overall mark of 10-10. The Bears lead the series against OU since 1989, 4-2, and defeated the Sooners last year in Waco, 5-2.

The Sooner women travel to Boulder, Colo., on Saturday, April 19, for their final match of the regular season versus the 46th-ranked Buffaloes. CU is 11-7 overall and 4-6 in conference. Match time is scheduled for 11 a.m (MST) at the Kittredge Tennis Courts. Last season, OU improved its lead in the series to 14-5 since 1989 with a 6-1 win in Norman.

Sooners Go 3-0 At Home
Oklahoma took full advantage of the friendly confines of the Oklahoma Headington Family Tennis Center last week as the Sooners posted wins over SMU, Texas Tech and No. 34 Missouri.

OU handed the Mustangs their 10th loss of the season with a 5-2 win on Wednesday. SMU took two of three in doubles to gain the early advantage but the Sooners rebounded with five wins in singles to seal the victory. The Lady Raiders of Texas Tech came to town on Saturday and were beaten, 6-1, as OU only relinquished one point in singles.

The Sooner women were set for their showdown with No. 34 Missouri the following day and responded with a 4-3 victory. OU lost the doubles point for only the fourth time this season but won four matches in singles.

Perianu Named Big 12 Co-Women's Tennis Player of the Week
Junior Anda Perianu (Braila, Romania) was honored Tuesday as the Big 12 Conference Co-Women's Tennis Player of the Week, along with Kansas State's Hayley McIver. Perianu is riding an eight-match win streak, sports an 18-2 record at No. 1 and is ranked 80th by the ITA. Against conference foes, she is 8-1 and versus ranked opponents she sports a mark of 4-1.

OU Women's Tennis Notes
A few other Sooners have begun winning streaks of their own including senior Melissa Mendieta (San Jose, Costa Rica) and sophomore Heather Saluri (Des Moines, Iowa). Mendieta has won her last six matches while pushing her record to 16-4 this spring. Saluri has moved to 9-4 at No. 4 singles having strung together five straight wins at that position while improving to 13-5 this season.

Elsewhere in singles, Sooner senior Annette Bryntesson (Perth, Australia) has won four of her last five matches including a three-set win over SMU's 109th-ranked Svetlana Kouzmenko.

Mark Johnson In 15th Year At Oklahoma In his 15th year as head coach at OU, Mark Johnson carries a career record of 241-114 (.679) 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 three singles qualifiers in Nicole Kenneally (1994), current OU assistant coach Raluca Gheorghe (1998) and Anda Perianu (2002).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Women's Tennis Prepares For No. 37 Baylor and No. 46 Colorado

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