Start Times For NCAA Tennis Championships Altered

May 7, 2003

NORMAN, Okla. - Start times for the NCAA Division I Women's First and Second Round Tennis Championships scheduled for May 10-11 at the OU Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman, Okla., were changed Tuesday by the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Committee.

Play is still scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday but will feature seventh-ranked Georgia (16-4) competing against Maryland-Baltimore County (17-4). The afternoon match will begin at 2 p.m. as host No. 35 Oklahoma (19-6) takes on 32nd-ranked Alabama (17-7).

Sunday's second round match is still scheduled for Noon. The winner of that contest will advance to the final rounds of the NCAA Women's Tennis Championships to be held on May 15-18 at the Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Fla.

Tickets will be available on Saturday at 9 a.m. at the OU Headington Family Tennis Center. The tennis courts are located at the corner of Chatauqua and Imhoff, directly south of the OU Soccer Complex. Tickets will be $5 for adults and $3 for high school students and all ages under.

Head Coach Mark Johnson has guided Oklahoma to its first appearance in the NCAA Team Championship since the 1998 season and their fourth in program history. The Sooners posted nine wins against ranked opponents in the regular season including a 4-3 victory on the road against No. 33 Texas. OU's 19 wins are the most for any Sooner team since 1996.

OU is led by the 2003 Big 12 Women's Tennis Player of the Year Anda Perianu (Braila, Romania), who is ranked 57th in the country by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Perianu is riding a 12-match win streak in singles while sporting an overall mark of 27-4. She garnered All-Conference honors in singles for the second straight year while also winning the Big 12 Women's Tennis Position Championship at No. 1 singles. She and doubles partner, Heather Saluri (Des Moines, Iowa), earned All-Conference honors in doubles.

Senior Melissa Mendieta (San Jose, Costa Rica) was named the Big 12 Co-Champion at No. 6 singles with an 8-3 record against conference foes this spring.

Last week, Perianu was selected for the second year in a row to compete in the field of 64 at the 2003 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Individual Championships. She and Saluri were also chosen to compete in the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championships. Those tournaments will be held on May 19-24 at the same site of the team championships.

2003 NCAA Women's Tennis Championship - Norman, Okla. - OU Headington Family Tennis Center Saturday, May 10 Maryland-Baltimore County (17-4) vs. Georgia (16-4) 10 a.m. Alabama (17-7) vs. Oklahoma 19-6) 2 p.m.

Sunday, May 11 Winner of Match 1 vs. Winner of Match 2 Noon

TICKETS Adults: $5 High School Students and under: $3

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Start Times For NCAA Tennis Championships Altered

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