WTennis Advances at San Diego

Nov. 2, 2007

SAN DIEGO, Calif.--The Oklahoma women's tennis team began play Friday morning at the San Diego State Invitational. The tournament, which has three flights of doubles and five flights of singles, began with a round of doubles.

In flight one, the Sooner duo of Chelsea Orr and Maria Kalashnikova advanced to the semi-finals with an 8-2 win over Venise Chan and Aleksandra Malovik of the University of Washington.

"I was pleased with our doubles play," Oklahoma head coach Mark Johnson said. "There are still some things to be worked on, but overall I thought we looked strong."

Senior Christi Baxley and freshman Tara Eckel represented OU in flight two. The duo defeated TCU's pair of Andrea Morgado and Maria Babanova, 8-4.

Oklahoma's only doubles loss of the day came in the number three flight where Rachael Cox and Elena Antakova fell 8-6 to the University of San Diego's Justine Perl and Alexandra Demidova.

In singles action OU had six players compepting amongst the five flights recording a team of 4 -2 for the day. Baxley and Kalashnakova each picked up a win for the Sooners in the second flight. Baxley breezed to a 6-0, 6-0 win over Heidi Kaloi of UC Irvine in the first round, while Kalashnikova advanced after Andrea Morgado of TCU withdrew.

In the second round of flight two Baxley defeated Sisse Nielsen 6-0, 4-6, 6-0.

"Christi played very well all day," Johnson said. "She came out strong in doubles and kept it up in both singles matches. I am really proud of how she played today."

Kalashnikova was defeated in the round two by Esther Cadua 7-6 (4), 6-3. She will now go to the back side of the draw to compete in the consolation bracket.

In flight four Cox added a victory to her fall record as she defeated Washington's Ashley Anderson 6-4, 6-2.

"I thought we had a good day as a team," Baxley said. "Everyone played really hard from start to finish."

Junior Brittany Baldy made her fall debut in flight five as she advanced to the second round with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Ariel Ohno of Washington.

"Our singles play was strong," Johnson said. "The competiton is very tough and the girls played some great matches."

The women's tennis team will continue play Saturday morning. Check SoonerSports.com for updates from the San Diego State Invitational.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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