Sooners Edge Missouri, 4-3

NORMAN, Okla. The Oklahoma women's tennis team claimed its fourth Big 12 win of the season with a 4-3 victory over Missouri Sunday at the OU Headington Family Tennis Center. OU swept the doubles and took three of the singles positions for the victory. The win over the No. 55 Tigers marked the second time this season the Sooners, currently ranked No. 68, defeated a higher-ranked team. Oklahoma improved its record to 14-9 overall and 4-5 in the Big 12 while Missouri fell to 14-7 overall and 4-6 in the conference.

“This match was as tough as we expected it to be,” head coach Mark Johnson said. “Missouri is a strong team and it was a very good win for us. We claimed the doubles point after fighting back at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions. That point was very significant in the match today.”

The Sooners started the match off strong by winning all three doubles positions. The duo of senior Heather Saluri and freshman Christy Greenly only dropped one game in the set and handily defeated MU's pair of Yelena Olshanskaya and Erika Josbena, 8-1. Senior Jessica Braver and sophomore Irina Lykina secured the doubles point with a come-from-behind win after being down 5-2 to MU's Carolyn Kramer and Katka Sevcikova. The Sooner tandem rallied to win the No. 1 doubles spot, 8-6. Also fighting back was senior Bethany Griffin and freshman Christi Baxley who surrendered a 6-2 deficit, before winning five straight games to win the tie-breaker 9-7 at the No. 2 position.

In singles action, Baxley provided the winning match at the No. 5 slot to earn the victory for the Sooners. Missouri's Josbena jumped out in the early lead, winning the first set 6-3. Baxley hung tough and dominated the second set 6-2 and handily winning the tie-breaker set 6-1.

Also adding points for OU was Saluri who took both sets, 6-2, to earn the victory over MU's Olshanskaya at the No. 2 position while Griffin defeated MU's Kraftova, 6-2, 6-3, to win the No. 3 position.

Oklahoma returns to action Thursday, April 21 at 2 p.m. when the Sooners host Big 12 leader Baylor in OU's final home match of the 2005 season. The match will also feature the final career home match for seniors Jessica Braver, Bethany Griffin and Heather Saluri.

Oklahoma 4, Missouri 3
Sunday, April 17, 2005
OU Headington Family Tennis Center - Norman, Okla.

Singles
Order of Finish: No. 2, 6, 3, 4, 5, 1
1.Katka Sevcikova (MU) def. Irina Lykina (OU) 6-4, 6-7(5), 1-0 (8)
2. Heather Saluri (OU) def. Yelena Olshanskaya (MU) 6-2, 6-2
3. Bethany Griffin (OU) def. Hana Kraftova (MU) 6-2, 6-3
4. Lubica Nadasska (MU) def. Jessica Braver (OU) 6-1, 6-4
5. *Christi Baxley (OU) def. Erika Josbena (MU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1
6. Carolyn Kramer (MU) def. Christy Greenly (OU) 6-2, 7-5
*Clinched match

Doubles
Order of Finish: No. 3, 1, 2
1.Braver/Lykina (OU) def. Kramer/Sevcikova (MU) 8-6
2.Baxley/Griffin (OU) def. Bellis/Kraftova (MU) 9-7
3.Saluri/Greenly (OU) def. Olshanskaya/Josbena (MU) 8-1

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