Tigers 'outplayed' by Wichita

Coach Blake Starkey said the Tigers played 'tentatively.'

By Ryan Huber

Published April 20, 2007

With all but one of its matches played indoors this spring, the unranked Missouri tennis team found both outdoor conditions and the visiting No. 34-ranked Wichita State Shockers simply too much to handle on Thursday.

The Tigers managed two victories during the day, one in singles play and one in doubles, and finished the match in a 6-1 defeat.

The loss brings the team's season record to 8-11, and 3-7 in Big 12 play.

"I don't think there is anything to hang our heads about, I just think we got outplayed," Coach Blake Starkey said. "We played kind of spotty. They aren't No. 34 in the country for nothing."

Seniors Amanda Pratzel and Erika Josbena held off the Shockers' late-match attempts during doubles play and won the No. 3 match 8-6.

"When I was playing them, I really didn't think they were 'all that,'" Pratzel said. "Once we got out there, I didn't think we were going to lose because we were definitely the better doubles team."

Junior Charlotte Bellis claimed the other Tiger victory as the sixth seed in a grueling three-hour match that ended with a 10-8 tiebreaker triumph.

She won the first set 6-4 and dropped the second with a score of 1-6.

But it was a different story for sophomore Raquel Wagner and junior Chrissy Svetlic on court one as Shockers senior Madina Rakhim and freshman Florentina Hanisch unofficially committed two unforced errors and won the game 8-0 in just 38 minutes.

Despite the loss, Starkey was still positive about the Missouri pair.

"If you watch, that team we are playing at one (spot) is going to be a very good doubles team," he said. "They got rolled today, but they played a very good team. It was good for them. Today they just played a little tentative."

In singles action, No. 1-seed Svetlic gave Wichita State's No. 67 ranked Rakhim a run for her money, but in the end, she couldn't hang on.

Svetlic led the first set 3-2 before dropping the remaining four games.

The second set found Svetlic charging the net frequently as Rakhim continuously sliced drop-shots just over the net.

"I've never played somebody who dropped shots so much," she said. "It was just frustrating because I got to every single drop-shot but two, and I couldn't do anything special with them."

The match ended 6-3, 6-1 in favor of Rakhim.

"Especially since we haven't played outdoors much, it was kind of hard to get in a rhythm and get adjusted to her game," Svetlic said. "She switched it up completely during the middle of the first set and started hitting drop-shots everywhere."

Several of the Missouri team members said it was hard to get into a rhythm while playing outdoors and that it would take some getting used to.

The team plays in its final regular season match at noon Saturday when it plays host to Texas.