MU defeats Drake, Montana in tennis
Published Feb. 27, 2007
The MU tennis team began the weekend with a losing record and ended it with a winning one.
The Tigers defeated Drake on Friday 5-2 and Montana on Sunday 6-1, bringing them to 4-3 this spring. More importantly, it brings the young team more confidence after some previous losses to tough teams.
"We've had a couple hard matches and then we have these matches that you never know," senior Amanda Pratzel said. "They can go either way, and then when we pull them off, the team feels good and winning two in a weekend is even better coming off a pretty big loss to Texas A&M."
One thing the Tigers can feel better about is doubles. The team won all six of its doubles matches this weekend, something it has been working very hard on so far this season.
The No. 1 pairing of freshman Katelyn McKenzie and sophomore Raquel Wagner is now 4-3, a solid indicator that when doubles go well for the Tigers, they win their matches.
Coach Blake Starkey was satisfied with the doubles performance.
"We did a lot of work on crossing, and there was other stuff we did all week and today it was just there," he said of the Montana match.
After Sunday's match, Starkey was particularly happy for senior Erika Josbena, who finally found her rhythm on the No. 1 court Sunday, snapping her five-game singles losing streak with a win over Montana's Liz Walker 6-4, 6-2.
"Sometimes playing at the top spot can be really tough, and (Josbena) has been getting better and better every week," Starkey said.
Josbena has enjoyed the challenge of playing at No. 1 but does not consider her position important when she gets ready to play. But she was certainly pleased that on Sunday she was able keep the ball deep and win.
"I just try and go out and do my best each time and to finally get that win was awesome," Josbena said.Another factor in the team's home success this weekend was the crowd.
Starkey would like to continue having a strong crowd to keep the team pumped up for the remaining three games on the home stand.
"We did have a good crowd, and we hope that keeps happening," he said.
Friday was a particularly special match for the Tigers because the coach for Drake's team is Urska Juric, Missouri's assistant coach the past two years and a former teammate of some of the older players.
The players' relationship with Juric did not factor into the match, and for some of them, it was even a chance to catch up with their former coach.
"We're friends actually," Pratzel said. "We talk, not even just that day, we talk and we still keep in touch and we met up for breakfast the day after the match."
Although it was generally a feel-good weekend for the players at home, they realize that their matches are only getting tougher as the season continues, especially with nine more Big 12 rivals still on the schedule.
"Now in a way we have to put this in the rearview mirror quick and turn around for Kansas State next weekend," Starkey said.
Missouri will continue its home stand with Kansas State this Saturday at the Green Tennis Center.
The Wildcats are 2-4 but are ranked No. 65 in the nation and all four of their losses are to ranked opponents.
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