Women's Tennis Begins Home Stand This Week Against SMU

April 7, 2003

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The 29th-ranked Oklahoma women's tennis team (15-3, 5-2 Big 12) begins a four-match home stretch this week at the OU Headington Family Tennis Center against non-conference foe SMU. The ORU match that was originally scheduled for Tuesday, April 8, has been cancelled. The Sooners resume conference play this weekend against No. 74 Texas Tech and No. 43 Missouri. OU is coming off two road wins against conference opponents Iowa State and No. 52 Nebraska.

The Sooners take on the Golden Eagles of Oral Roberts on Tuesday, April 8, at 6 p.m. ORU is 7-8 on the season following a 5-2 loss to Wichita State. OU returns to the court again on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. to play SMU. The Mustangs are 14-8 after disposing of Rice, 5-2, on Sunday, April 6. SMU is undefeated in the WAC with a mark of 3-0.

Oklahoma resumes conference play on Saturday, April 12, versus the 74th-ranked Texas Tech Lady Raiders. Match time is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tech is 2-7 in conference and 2-11 overall following a 5-2 loss to Houston and are set to play No. 36 Oklahoma State on Friday before facing the Sooners. OU concludes the weekend on Sunday at 1 p.m. against No. 43 Missouri. The Tigers are 4-3 in Big 12 play and 11-4 overall after shutting out St. Louis, 7-0, on April 3. MU will face No. 46 Tulsa and OSU before heading to Norman.

Women Cruise Past Huskers And Cyclones
The Sooner ladies dominated a pair of conference contests against Iowa State and No. 52 Nebraska. OU posted its eighth shutout victory on the season with a 7-0 win over Iowa State on Thursday, April 3, at the Forker Parks in Ames, Iowa. The domination continued the following day at the Woods Tennis Center in Lincoln, Neb., where the Sooners beat Nebraska, 6-1.

Sooners Climbing Big 12 Ladder
The Sooners' successful road trip last weekend pushed their conference record to 5-2 placing them fourth in the current Big 12 Conference standings behind No. 35 Texas (7-1), No. 40 Baylor (6-1) and No. 30 Texas A&M (6-2). The Sooners lead the conference in overall wins with 15.

Sooner Spring Statistics
Junior Anda Perianu (Braila, Romania) continues to dominate at No. 1 singles. She sports a 15-2 record at No. 1 and is ranked 76th by the ITA. Perianu is currently on a five-match win streak and has won 11 of 12 since falling to Tulsa's 24th-ranked Alicia Pillay. Against conference foes, she is 6-1 and versus ranked opponents, she sports a mark of 3-1.

Also in singles, seniors Elena Jirnova (Kiev, Ukraine) and Melissa Mendieta (San Jose, Costa Rica) and sophomore Bethany Griffin (Amarillo, Texas) have each won three of their last four matches while senior Annette Bryntesson (Perth, Australia) and sophomore Heather Saluri (Des Moines, Iowa) have won two in a row. This spring, Jirnova is 10-4 at No. 2, Bryntesson is 9-4 at No. 3 and Mendieta is 8-3 at No. 6.

In doubles, the 49th-ranked pair of Perianu and Saluri have won three straight since losing their only match of the season to Texas A&M's Jessica Roland and Roberta Spencer. The duo is 11-1 at No. 1, 2-0 against ranked opponents and 4-1 against the Big 12 this spring.

Mark Johnson In 15th Year At Oklahoma
In his 15th year as head coach at OU, Mark Johnson carries a career record of 238-114 (.676) 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 Begins Home Stand This Week Against SMU

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