Women's Tennis Travels North To Face Cyclones And No. 52 Huskers

April 2, 2003

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The 29th-ranked Oklahoma women's tennis team (13-3, 3-2 Big 12) resumes conference play this week with a pair of road tests against Iowa State and No. 52 Nebraska. The Sooner ladies have won five of their last seven and are coming off a dramatic 4-3 triumph over then-No. 51 TCU. OU is an impressive 7-3 versus ranked opponents this spring.

The Sooners take on ISU Thursday, April 3, at the Forker Tennis Courts in Ames, Iowa. Match time is scheduled for 1 p.m. The Cyclones are 0-2 in conference and 2-11 on the season. In case of inclement weather, the match will take place at the Ames Racquet and Fitness Center.

OU continues its road trip against the 52nd-ranked Cornhuskers on Saturday, April 5. That contest is slated to begin at 10 a.m. at the Woods Tennis Center in Lincoln, Neb. The Huskers improved their records to 10-5 overall and 1-4 in the Big 12 with a 5-2 victory at No. 74 Texas Tech on March 30. The win also snapped NU's seven-match losing streak in conference.

Mendieta Secures Sooner Victory Over TCU
OU senior Melissa Mendieta (San Jose, Costa Rica) won six consecutive points after falling behind 3-1 in a third-set tie-breaker against TCU's Karla Mancinas to win at No. 5 singles, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6. Her victory clinched a 4-3 win for Oklahoma over then-No. 51 TCU at the OU Headington Family Tennis Center.

Leading The Sooners
Junior Anda Perianu (Braila, Romania) continues to rack up victories at No. 1 singles. She sports a 13-2 at No. 1 and is currently ranked 76th by the ITA. Perianu has won nine of ten since falling to Tulsa's 24th-ranked Alicia Pillay. Against the Horned Frogs, Perianu downed 89th-ranked Paty Aburto in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. The win improved Perianu's record against ranked opponents to 3-1 this spring.

With senior Elena Jirnova (Kiev, Ukraine) not playing against TCU at No. 2 singles because of injury, each of the Sooners except Perianu were forced to move up a position in singles. Senior Melissa Mendieta answered the challenge stepping up from her usual slot at No. 6 to compete at No. 5 against TCU's Karla Mancinas. With her crucial win that gave the Sooners the victory, Mendieta improved to 3-1 at No. 5 and 11-4 this spring.

Sophomore Bethany Griffin (Amarillo, Texas) wasn't bothered by the lineup change at all as she beat TCU's Gloriann Lopez, 6-1, 7-5, at No. 4. Griffin has given OU a recent boost winning four of her last six matches.

In doubles, Perianu and sophomore Heather Saluri (Des Moines, Iowa) got back to the winning ways with an 8-4 win over the Horned Frogs' 51st-ranked pair of Aburto and Rosa Perez. Perianu and Saluri are still ranked 49th by the ITA with a 9-1 mark at No. 1 and 2-0 against ranked foes.

Griffin and senior Annette Bryntesson (Perth, Australia) upped their record at No. 2 doubles to 9-2 with a 9-7 win over the Horned Frogs' Mancinas and Saber Pierce.

Mark Johnson In 15th Year At Oklahoma
In his 15th year as head coach at OU, Mark Johnson carries a career record of 236-114 (.674) 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 current Sooner Anda Perianu (2002).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Women's Tennis Travels North To Face Cyclones And No. 52 Huskers

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