Womens Tennis Upsets Rice, 4-3

NORMAN, Okla. In its last match before conference play begins, the No. 43 Oklahoma women's tennis team edged
No. 36 Rice, 4-3, at the Woodlake Racquet Club in Oklahoma City. The Sooners improved their record to 7-3 and claimed their first victory over a ranked opponent this year while the Rice Owls moved to 6-4 on the year.

“We played really well today,” head coach Mark Johnson said. “For us to not win the doubles point and come back strong in the singles was great. Rice is a really strong singles team and it was a great hard-fought effort by our team to come back. It's just an excellent victory for us as we head into conference play.”

The Sooners came out firing in singles, claiming four positions to win the dual. Senior Jessica Braver took to the court with the Sooners up 3-2 and proved to be the match-winner against the Owls. Braver's 6-3, 6-4, singles victory over Rice's Dominique Karas clinched the dual for the Sooners.

Freshman Chrisy Greenly got the Sonners on the board for their first point with a straight-set win over Rice's Christine Dao, 6-1, 6-2. Fellow freshman Christi Baxley continued her stellar play in singles and claimed her seventh singles victory of the season with a 6-4, 7-5, win against the Owls' Medeja Egic.

Also claiming a singles point for the Sooners was senior Heather Saluri who took the first set against Kimberley Patenaude, 6-2, but dropped the second set, 4-6. Saluri bounced back with a 6-4 third set win to earn the point for the Sooners and record her sixth singles victory this spring.

In doubles, OU's Chelsea Orr and Braver paired up for the first time to claim an 8-5 win over Rice's pair of Chong and Karas.

OU opens Big 12 Conference play with a pair of matches the weekend of March 5-6. The Sooners will face Nebraska on March 5 at 10 a.m. in Lincoln before traveling to Des Moines, Iowa, to challenge Iowa State Sunday, March 6 at 10 a.m.

No. 43 Oklahoma 4, No. 36 Rice 3
Friday, Feb. 25, 2005
Woodlake Racquet Club - Oklahoma City, Okla.

Singles
1. Blair DiSesa (Rice) def. Irina Lykina (OU) 6-0, 6-1
2. Heather Saluri (OU) def. Kimberley Patenaude (Rice) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
3. Tracie Chong (Rice) def. Bethany Griffin (OU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
4. Jessica Braver (OU) def. Dominique Karas (Rice) 6-3, 6-4
5. Christy Greenly (OU) def. Christine Dao (Rice) 6-1, 6-2
6. Christi Baxley (OU) def. Medeja Egic (Rice) 6-4, 7-5

Doubles
1. Patenaude/DiSesa (Rice) def. Saluri/Lykina (OU) 8-3
2. Braver/Chelsea Orr (OU) def. Chong/Karas (Rice) 8-5
3. Egic/Dao (Rice) def. Baxley/Griffin (OU) 9-8

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