Tennis Opens Seven-Match Home Stand with No. 37 Tulsa
Feb. 18, 2011
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
Kansas tennis will play its next seven matches in the friendly confines of the Jayhawk Tennis Facility, beginning this weekend with a pair of morning matches against No. 37 Tulsa and Arkansas-Little Rock.
The Jayhawks are looking to bounce back after a difficult weekend in Pullman, Wash., where an injury-plagued KU squad went 0-2 to No. 72 Washington State and Santa Clara. However, KU (1-2) did see strong performances against a tough Cougar team. The bottom half of the order all posted victories, with freshman Dylan Windom earning her second three-set victory in as many matches. Fellow freshman Paulina Los and junior Erin Wilbert also posted wins last Saturday, at Washignton State’s the Simmelink Tennis Center.
Kansas enters Saturday’s contest against the Golden Hurricanes owning an 11-8-1 all-time series lead, but has dropped the last four matches. Last year in Tulsa, the Jayhawks fell to the No. 34-ranked Hurricanes 6-1. Maria Martinez earned KU’s only point when she narrowly edged Ewa Szatkowska, 7-6 (6), 7-5 in the No. 4 singles position.
Szatkowska has paced the Hurricanes all season, owning an 11-4 overall record and a 5-1 mark in duals, mostly at the No. 4 spot. Bonny Davidson comes into the weekend 5-0 in the spring, having earned her wins playing in three different positions. Tulsa’s No. 1 singles player, Alexandra Kichoutkin is 5-2. Kichoutkin also owns a 5-2 record in doubles play with partner Jo-Anne Karaitiana.
Having faced players from Tulsa in two fall events, the Jayhawks have done some advance scouting on Saturday’s opponent. Facing individual Hurricanes at the Notre Dame Eck Classic and ITA Regionals, Kansas collectively went 1-2 in singles play and 0-2 in doubles.
Tulsa is 6-4 on the season, with losses against No. 36 Texas A&M and No. 21 Arkansas. Ranked as high as No. 32 to start the spring season, the Hurricanes solidified their standing in the ITA/Campbell’s College Tennis Poll with four straight sweeps to open the season and a recent 4-3 win over 69th-ranked Texas Tech.
UALR is coming off of a loss to Southern Mississippi that dropped the Trojans to 2-4. One of those four losses came at the hands of the Hurricanes, who blanked the Trojans 7-0 in Tulsa, in one of their season-opening streaks. Little Rock has wins over Central Arkansas and Oral Roberts.
KU will challenge Tulsa at 11 a.m., Saturday. Little Rock will visit the following day, with a match time slated for 9 a.m.
