Kansas Tennis Faces OSU, No. 21 OU in Final Regular Season Road Trip
April 14, 2011
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
Starting Off
An Oklahoma swing will wrap up regular-season road play for Kansas tennis this weekend, as the Jayhawks head south to take on Oklahoma State and No. 21 Oklahoma. KU will face the Cowgirls in Stillwater, Friday at 2 p.m., and finish the weekend with the Sooners Sunday in Norman, at 12 p.m.
Last Time Out
KU has now won three of the last five Big 12 matches after sweeping No. 70 Missouri and Colorado at home last weekend and improved to 9-9 overall and 3-5 in the Big 12. Friday in the 2011 installment of the tennis Border Showdown, KU earned its first win over a ranked opponent since March of 2009, when Kansas defeated a 70th-ranked Oklahoma team. It was also KU’s first win against rival Missouri in exactly five years. A trio of matches went into three sets with the No. 5 singles match lasting nearly three hours. With the match tied at 3-all and fifth singles moved inside due to darkness, Dylan Windom put Jamie Mera away with a 7-5 third-set win that clinched the 4-3 victory over the Tigers. It was the freshman’s second match-winner of the season, and her third-straight victory. KU played another five-hour marathon against Colorado Sunday, but came out on top in the end, 6-1.
Jayhawk Leaders
With four straight wins and five in her last six starts, freshman Dylan Windom leads Kansas with an 11-6 dual match record, including a team-leading 6-2 ledger in Big 12 action. Windom is 8-2 for her last 10 matches and is currently a perfect 6-0 at the No. 5 spot. Windom has shown tremendous poise under pressure for a rookie, having two match-winners to her credit and a 6-1 record in three-set matches. She also leads in doubles with her partner Ekaterina Morozova. The duo is 13-5 on the season and their 5-3 Big 12 record, all at the first spot, which is the conference’s third-best No. 1 doubles mark.
Scouting the Cowgirls
Oklahoma State was ranked as high as No. 59 to open the spring slate, but a promising season soon turned into a challenging one after a 1-6 start. OSU comes into the weekend at 6-13 overall and 2-6 in the Big 12, with the two conference wins coming against Iowa State and Colorado. Sophomore Malika Rose has paced the Cowgirls in singles play this season with a 14-2 record playing mostly at the bottom of the order. Rose is 6-0 in the No. 5 spot, as is KU’s Dylan Windom, and is a likely opponent for the KU freshman come Sunday. Also like KU, the No. 2 doubles position has been tough but Nos. 1 and 3 have been solid.
Oklahoma State leads 23-16 in the all-time series and won the 2010 meeting in Lawrence.
Scouting the Sooners
Oklahoma is currently 14-5 on the season with a 6-2 mark in the Big 12. The Sooners’ only two conference losses came at the hands of Texas and Baylor. A mix of young and old, the best records on the team belong to two freshmen and two seniors. At the top of the order, senior Ana-Maria Constantinescu is 6-1 in the No. 1 spot, while freshman Whitney Richie is 10-3 in Nos. 2 and 3. At the bottom, senior Maria Kalashnikova and freshman Mia Lancaster each have 12 wins to their credit, making the Sooner lineup solid throughout.
The Jayhawks faced Oklahoma players in the fall’s KU Invitational, going 1-2 in singles and 0-1 in doubles. Victoria Khanevskaya was victorious for KU, defeating Brittany Parks 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 en route to winning the flight. Kansas holds a 20-17 edge in the all-time series, but has dropped the last two contests.
