Womens Tennis Defeats K-State, 6-1

NORMAN, Okla. The Oklahoma women's tennis team claimed its second Big 12 win of the season Saturday, with a 6-1 victory over Kansas State, at the OU Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman, Okla. The Sooners earned their first home win of the season by claiming the doubles point and dominating the singles, taking five of six matches. OU improves its record to 9-4 overall and 2-1 in conference play while the Wildcats fall to 4-5 overall and 1-2 in Big 12 play.

“This was a huge win for us,” Head coach Mark Johnson said. “Kansas State is a good team and I'm just proud of our girls for their effort today. We had some real close sets and fought hard for this win.”

The Sooners got things started with a strong doubles performance to earn the first point for OU. Senior Beth Griffin and freshman Christi Baxley earned their second victory of the season with an 8-4 win over Kansas State's Tereza Prochazkova and Fernanda Da Valle. Clinching the doubles point for the Sooners was the No. 2 pair of Jessica Braver and Heather Saluri with an 8-6 victory over Jessica Simosa and Judith Diaz.

The Sooners dominated in singles, claiming five of the six victories. Griffin's match at No. 3 singles proved to be the dual winner after beating Kansas State's Jessica Simosa 6-2, 6-3.

“Today was all about mental toughness,” Griffin said. “It's so hard to play in this wind and I'm glad our team had the mental toughness to pull it out today.”

Also adding points for the Sooners was Saluri at the No. 1 slot where she bounced back from a 3-6 first set against KSU's Maria Rosenberg and came back to win the second set, 6-3, and won the tie-breaker, 1-0 (10-7) for her third No. 1 position win of the year. Braver won seven straight games after being down five games to K-State's Judith Diaz in the first set and won the match with a 7-6 (7-2) second set at the No. 4 position to earn her eighth victory of the spring.

A pair of Sooner freshmen also earned points for the Sooners at the No. 5 and 6 slots. Christy Greenly claimed her seventh victory of the season with a 6-0, 7-6 (6-0), win over Da Valle at the No. 6 position. Baxley claimed her 10th victory of the season, the most of any Sooner on the team, after defeating KSU's Tereza Prochazkova at the No. 5 slot.

Next up for the Sooners is another home match Friday, March 18 against the Kansas Jayhawks at 11 a.m. at the OU Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman, Okla.

Oklahoma 6, Kansas State 1
Saturday, March 12, 2005
OU Headington Family Tennis Center - Norman, Okla.

Singles
Order of Finish: No. 5, No. 6, No. 3, No.1, No. 2, No. 4

1. Heather Saluri (OU) def. Maria Rosenberg (KSU) 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-7)
2. Tamar Kvaratskhelia (KSU) def. Irina Lykina (OU) 7-5, 7-5
3. Beth Griffin (OU) def. Jessica Simosa (KSU) 6-2, 6-3
4. Jessica Braver (OU) def. Judith Diaz (KSU) 7-5, 7-6 (7-2)
5. Christi Baxley (OU) def. Tereza Prochazkova (KSU) 6-3, 6-4
6. Christy Greenly (OU) def. Fernanda Da Valle (KSU) 6-0, 7-6 (6-0)

Doubles
Order of Finish: No.1, No. 3, No.2

1. Rosenberg/Kvaratskhelia (KSU) def. Lykina/Orr (OU) 8-4
2. Saluri/Braver (OU) def. Simosa/Diaz (KSU) 8-6
3. Griffin/Baxley (OU) def. Prochazkova/Da Valle (KSU) 8-4

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