Nebraska Women Hit the Road for Oklahoma, Missouri

No. 41 Nebraska (13-2, 1-1 Big 12) vs. No. 23 Tulsa (15-2)
Date: Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Location: Tulsa, Okla.
Venue: Michael D. Case Tennis Center
Start time: 11 a.m.

No. 41 Nebraska (13-2, 1-1) vs. No. 75 Missouri (8-5, 0-3 Big 12)
Date: Sunday, March 27, 2011
Location: Columbia, Mo.
Venue: Green Tennis Center
Start time: 1 p.m.

The Nebraska women’s tennis team will take to the road for two matches this week in Oklahoma and Missouri. The No. 41 Huskers (13-2, 1-1 Big 12) will face the No. 23 Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Wednesday before traveling to battle No. 75 Missouri (8-5, 0-3 Big 12) on Sunday. NU is 7-3 all-time against the Golden Hurricane and 26-9 all-time against the Tigers.

Nebraska Takes a Hit in Latest Polls
The Huskers fell 12 spots in the latest ITA Division I Women’s Tennis Rankings, landing at a ranking of No. 41. This is the lowest spot the Big Red has occupied in the polls this season after beginning the year ranked No. 34 and rising to a program-high No. 26 on Feb. 22. The Huskers have been ranked for ten consecutive weeks this season and hold a 6-2 record against ranked teams this season.

The drop puts the Huskers sixth among Big 12 teams in the rankings, trailing No. 9 Baylor, No. 18 Oklahoma, No. 25 Texas A&M, No. 26 Texas, and No. 39 Kansas State. The Huskers are currently 1-1 in Big 12 play, with a win over Oklahoma State and a loss to Oklahoma.

Tracking the Rankings
Date                 Rank
Jan. 4               #34
Jan. 25             #34
Feb. 3               #33
Feb. 8               #32
Feb. 14             #31
Feb. 22             #26
March 1            #36
March 8            #32
March 15           #29
March 22           #41

Scouting the Tulsa Golden Hurricane
No. 23 Tulsa currently holds a 15-2 record on the season that includes a 10-match win streak. The Golden Hurricane have defeated seven ranked opponents this season, including last week’s victory over No. 55 LSU. Tulsa’s only losses have come to Arkansas and Texas A&M, who currently hold respective rankings of No. 12 and No. 25.
Tulsa is led on the court by senior Alexandra Kitchoutkin, who holds an overall singles record of 19-11, including a 10-6 mark at the No. 1 singles position. Freshman Sam Vickers is currently riding an eight-match win streak in singles that is highlighted by seven wins at the No. 6 position.
The Golden Hurricane are led by Head Coach Dean Orford, who is in his sixth season. Orford has become the all-time winningest coach at TU, with an overall record of 117-37.  

Scouting the Missouri Tigers
Missouri has seen marked improvement on the court this season after finishing with a record of 6-17 last season. The No. 69 Tigers are currently 8-5 overall and 0-3 in the Big 12, including losses to No. 9 Baylor, No. 25 Texas A&M and No. 26 Texas. MU has logged wins over Minneosta, Iowa and Michigan State this season.
The Tigers returned five letterwinners this season, including senior Mallory Weber, who has played primarily at the No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles positions for Missouri. Weber has logged several impressive victories, including her No. 1 doubles win with partner Kaitlyn Ritchie over No. 23-ranked Amanda Craddock and Cierra Gaytan-Leach of Texas.
MU is led by Interim Head Coach Steven Stuckenschneider.

Huskers Go 1-1 in Big 12 Opening Duals
The Nebraska women’s tennis team opened their Big 12 slate last weekend with a loss to No. 19 Oklahoma and a win over Oklahoma State. The Huskers fell to the Sooners by a score of 6-1 before topping the Cowgirls, 4-3 at the 17th & Vine St. Courts in Lincoln.

Play between the Huskers and the Sooners kicked off on March 18, where the Huskers dropped the doubles point after losing all three doubles match-ups to the Sooners. OU didn’t stop there, capturing an additional five singles matches to clinch the win over the Big Red. Patricia Veresova (NU) captured Nebraska’s only win of the day, soundly defeating Alice Radu (OU), 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 2 spot.

The Huskers took the court again on March 20, using heart and determined play to defeat the Cowgirls and chalk up their first conference win this season. After Oklahoma State won the No. 3 doubles position, both the No. 1 and No. 2 matches went to a tie-breaker.

 At the No. 1 position, Madeleine Geibert and Stefanie Weinstein (NU) found themselves down early, but fought back late to snag the win against Nataliya Shatkovskaya and Kanyapat Narattana (OSU), 9-8.

The point decision would come down to the No. 2 spot, where Jennifer Holmberg and Janine Weinreich (NU) went up early over Sasha Belova and Sarah Meghoufel (OSU), but saw the opposition battle back. Weinreich and Holmberg didn’t give up and claimed the match victory by a score of 9-8, clinching the doubles point for Nebraska.

OSU took a 2-1 lead in the dual after capturing wins at the No. 5 and 6 positions. Nebraska then took two victories in quick succession at the No. 1 and 3 positions, but OSU battled back and captured a win at the No. 4 spot.

With the dual all tied up at 3-3, the deciding point would come down to the No. 2 match between Veresova and Belova. Veresova picked up the first victory with ease, but found herself down 3-0 to Belova early in the second set. Veresova didn't give up and pushed back, taking the match all the way to a tie-break before she clinched the victory, 6-2, 7-6, as well as the win for the Huskers.

Live Stats Available for Matches
Live Stats will be available for Nebraska’s match against Tulsa. Click the link at the top of the page to follow the action.
A link to Missouri's live stats will be provided if they become available.