May 11, 2008

WACO, Texas - The 40th-ranked University of Tulsa's women's tennis team season ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament as it falls to No. 5 Baylor, 4-1, on Saturday afternoon at the Baylor Tennis Center. The loss drops the Golden Hurricane's record to 22-6.

Head coach Dean Orford said of the match, "Well we lost to a really good team in Baylor. They have a realistic shot to take it all in Tulsa. They are extremely deep 1 through 6. I'm very proud of our team. I think the five hour match yesterday brought us down a step or so, but all the credit goes to Baylor; they're a great team."

TU started out great, winning the doubles point. Tulsa's No. 2 pair of Thalia Diaz-Barriga and Marta Marcinkowska defeated Taylor Ormond and Jelena Stanivuk, 8-6. Clinching the doubles point was team of Rebecca Row and Jie Zeng, who slipped by Baylor's Zuzana Chmelarova and Karolina Filipiak, 9-7 at the No. 3 position. In the first doubles match to finish, the Bears' No. 6-ranked duo of Zuzana Zemenova and Lenka Broosova dispatched TU's top-squad of Alexandra Kichoutkin and Carla Zabaleta, 8-4.

The Baylor Bears took the next four singles matches, clinching them a spot in the round of 16 at the NCAA Championships. No. 25 Zemenova tied the match up at 1-1, downing No. 98 Kichoutkin, 6-2, 6-0 at the top position. The Bears took the lead for good after its highest ranked player, No. 18 Broosova defeated Zabaleta, 6-0, 6-3, at No. 3. Baylor picked up its third singles victory at No. 2 with No. 43 Ormond beating Diaz-Barriga, 6-2, 6-0. BU's Stanivuk clinched the match at the No. 5 position, dispatching sophomore Marcinkowska, 6-2, 6-2. The matches at No. 4 and No. 6 remained unfinished.

The loss ends one of the most successful seasons the women's program has ever had, winning its second-consecutive C -USA Championship and finishing with a 22-6 record ranked No. 40 in the nation.