OU Womens Tennis Advances In Big 12 Championship Action

NORMAN,Okla.- The 19th-ranked and third seed Oklahoma women's tennis team advanced to the semifinals of the 2004 Big 12 Championships with a 4-1 victory over the sixth seed Missouri Friday afternoon at the OU Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman.

The Sooners took the doubles point in a tie-breaker, and three of six singles to claim victory. Oklahoma moves to 21-3 on the season, while the Tigers fall to 14-10.

“It was a great win for us,” said head coach Mark Johnson. “We had a good crowd and really played well. The doubles point was key, again. It was great to see the No. 3 doubles team (Gabby Baker and Beth Griffin) fight back, after being down two match points, and win that match to give us the doubles point.”

The Sooners fought back from 6-3 down and two match points at No. 3 doubles to clinch the doubles point. Junior Bethany Griffin (Amarillo, Texas) and Gabby Baker won 7-4 in the doubles tie-breaker, defeating Missouri's Ericka Josebena and Yelena Olshanskaya, 9-8.

Earlier in the doubles, OU's 20th-ranked team of Anda Perianu (Braila, Romania) and Heather Saluri (Des Moines, Iowa) dominated MU's Urska Juric and Katka Sevcikova, 8-1.

In singles play, the Sooners jumped on the Tigers early. It was OU's Griffin that was the hero of the day as her singles win at No. 6 clinched the match for Oklahoma. Griffin defeated MU's Josebena, 6-3, 6-3. OU's fifth-ranked Perianu pushed her Big 12 record at No. 1 singles to 12-0 as she defeated Missouri's Urska Juric, 6-3, 6-1.

Helping the Sooners clinch the win was Saluri, who came up with a solid win at No. 4, defeating MU's Olshanskaya, 6-4, 6-1.

The Sooners now face the winner of second-seeded Texas A&M and seventh-seeded Nebraska Saturday May 1, at 2:30 p.m., at the OU Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman.

2004 Big 12 Tennis Championships
OU Headington Family Tennis Complex
Norman, Okla.

Doubles
No. 1: (#20) Perianu/Saluri (OU) def. Juric/Sevcikova (MU), 8-1
No. 2: Barry/Kraftova (MU) def. Lykina/Braver (OU), 9-7
No. 3: Baker/Griffin (OU) def. Josebena/Olshanskaya (MU), 9-8 (4)

Singles
No. 1: (#5) Anda Perianu (OU) def. Urska Juric (MU), 6-3, 6-1
No. 2: Irina Lykina (OU) vs. Katka Sevcikova (MU) DNF
No. 3: Gabby Baker (OU) vs. Hana Kraftova (MU) DNF
No. 4: Heather Saluri (OU) def. Yelena Olshanskaya (MU), 6-4, 6-1
No. 5: Mary Barry (MU) def. Jessica Braver (OU), 6-0, 6-1
No. 6: Beth Griffin (OU) vs. Ericka Josebena (MU), 6-3, 6-3

Records : Oklahoma 20-3 ... Missouri 14-8
Order of Finish: Doubles: 1, 2, 3 ... Singles: 1, 4, 5, 6