Kansas Women's Tennis Looks to Continue Strong Start

Feb. 4, 2009

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

After starting the spring season 3-0, the Kansas women’s tennis team looks to continue its success when it takes on No. 36 Illinois on Friday and University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) on Saturday at the Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign, Ill. Friday’s match is set to begin at 2 p.m. while Saturday’s dual will start at noon.

The No. 75-ranked Jayhawks are coming off their best start since the 2000 season in which they also started 3-0. KU defeated UTEP, Drake and Saint Louis in its opening weekend of competition.

KU will be led by senior Yuliana Svistun, who finished last weekend with a 3-0 singles record at the No. 4 and No. 5 positions. The Ufa, Russia, native has posted a 3-0 record with partner Kate Morozova in the No. 2 doubles position to start the 2009 season.

Two other Jayhawks made it through the weekend undefeated in singles play. Senior Edina Horvath went 3-0 at the No. 2 position while sophomore Maria Martinez started 3-0 at the No. 3 and No. 4 spots. The Jayhawks also posted an overall doubles record of 7-2.

Illinois (2-2) is coming off a 6-1 loss to No. 5 Stanford in the final qualifying match for the ITA Tennis Indoor National Championships. The Fighting Illini are led by Megan Judge, who is undefeated in singles play, and pairs with the No. 89 player in the country, Leigh Finnegan, as the No. 1 doubles pairing on the team.

The University of Illinois-Chicago brings a record of 1-1 into the weekend, having lost a close match to Marquette, 4-3. Most recently, UIC soundly defeated Chicago, 7-0. It also boasts the current Horizon League Player of the Week in sophomore Ilinca Cristescu. Cristescu was also named the Horizon League Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year and earned First-Team All-League honors in 2008.

This weekend’s matchups are the first of five-straight road duals for Kansas. Kansas will not play at home again until March 6 against BYU.