Women's Tennis Travel To Kansas City For Big 12 Championships

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The 24th-ranked Oklahoma women's tennis team (18-5, 7-4 Big 12) travel to Kansas City, Mo., this week for the 2003 Big 12 Championships. Play is set to begin on Thursday, April 24, and runs through Saturday, April 26, at the Plaza Tennis Center and is being hosted by the University of Missouri.

The Sooners drew the No. 5 seed and are slated to play 12th-seeded Iowa State in the first round on Thursday at 1 p.m. The Cyclones were 0-11 in conference this spring and 3-15 on the year. OU travled to Ames, Iowa, on April 3 and shut out ISU, 7-0. Oklahoma only gave up one match on the day at No. 3 singles position.

A victory would send the Sooners to the second round for a Bedlam rematch with 33rd-ranked Cowgirls of Oklahoma State. OSU topped the Sooners, 5-2, back on March 26 in Stillwater. They currently sport an 8-3 record in the Big 12 and are 14-6 overall.

Sooners Drop Duals To No. 37 Baylor and No. 46 Colorado
The OU women had a tough week last week as they were defeated in a pair of conference matches against No. 37 Baylor and No. 46 Colorado.

The Sooners entered the match against the Bears on Thursday at the OU Headington Family Tennis Center in second place in the Big 12 and only a game behind Baylor. Baylor took control of the match early on winning the No. 2 and 3 doubles to go up 1-0. The Bears clinched the match with victories at the No. 2, 4, 5 and 6 singles slots.

OU finished out the regular season Saturday at the Ranch Country Club in Westminster, Colo., against the 46th-ranked Buffaloes. The Sooners got off to a good start winning at No. 1 and 2 doubles to claim the doubles point but CU responded winning four out of six singles matches to edge OU, 4-3.

Perianu Continues To Dominate
Junior Anda Perianu (Braila, Romania) extended her win streak to 10 this past week with victories at No. 1 singles over BU's 89th-ranked Vida Mulec (7-5, 6-4) and CU's Dominique Lemperle (6-3, 6-2). Perianu sports a 20-2 record at No. 1 and is ranked 80th by the ITA. Against conference foes, she leads the Big 12 at the top position with a record of 10-1 this spring. Perianu has also been more than stellar against ranked opponents, sporting a mark of 5-1.

In doubles, Perianu has teamed with sophomore Heather Saluri (Des Moines, Iowa) for a record of 15-2 at No. 1 doubles this spring. The duo is currently ranked 38th by the ITA. Perianu and Saluri sport a 9-3 mark against conference foes and 14-2 against regional opponents.

OU Women's Tennis Notes
Senior Melissa Mendieta (San Jose, Costa Rica) has won seven of her last eight contests while pushing her record to 17-5 this spring. Elsewhere in singles, Sooner senior Annette Bryntesson (Perth, Australia) and sophomore Heather Saluri have each won five of last seven matches in singles. Bryntesson is 12-6 at No. 3 and 14-7 overall while Saluri finished the regular season with a record of 9-6 at No. 4 and 13-7 overall.

Mark Johnson In 15th Year At Oklahoma In his 15th year as head coach at OU, Mark Johnson carries a career record of 241-116 (.675) and led his 1999 team to the championship match og 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 Kenneally (1994), current OU assistant coach Raluca Gheorghe (1998) and Anda Perianu (2002).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Women's Tennis Travel To Kansas City For Big 12 Championships

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