Jayhawk Women's Tennis to Kick Off Spring Season Against UTEP, Drake and Saint Louis

Jan. 28, 2009

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

The 73rd-ranked Kansas women’s tennis team opens its spring season this weekend as it takes on UTEP at 11 a.m. on Saturday at First Serve Tennis Center in Lawrence, Kan. The Jayhawks will then play a double-header on Sunday, hosting Drake at 11 a.m. followed by a match with Saint Louis at 4 p.m.

“We’re very excited to get started this weekend,” said head coach Amy Hall-Holt. “Obviously, three matches will be tough, but it will really show us where we are and prepare us for the rest of the season. I expect Maria (Martinez) and Kate (Morozova) to step up and I’m very excited to see how they play, both in singles and in doubles.”

Martinez, a sophomore from Abingdon, Md., finished the fall season with the best singles record on the team (7-3) and freshman Morozova paired with senior Yuliana Svistun to make up the most successful doubles tandem of the fall with a record of 6-2. KU is also looking forward to the debut of Dina Obukhova, a freshman from St. Petersburg, Russia, who joined the team earlier this month.

Saturday’s match against UTEP will be the second for the Miners as they play UMKC on Friday before heading to Lawrence. Both Drake and Saint Louis will play at least one Big 12 opponent before taking on the Jayhawks. Drake (0-2), coming off losses at Iowa State and at Minnesota, will travel to Kansas State before Sunday’s match-up with KU. Saint Louis dropped its first two matches of the season to ranked opponents, No. 14 Arkansas and No. 34 Tulsa, respectively, and hosts the Missouri Tigers on Saturday.

Check back to kuathletics.com for complete results following each day of the tournament.