April 27, 2006
WACO, Texas - In first day action of the Big 12 Women's Tennis Championships held at the Baylor Tennis Center in Waco, Texas, all of the higher seeded teams advanced to Friday's quarterfinals. Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Nebraska and Kansas all posted first round wins.
In the first match of the day, No. 7 seed Kansas State defeated Oklahoma, seeded 10th, 4-0. The victory raised the 55th-ranked Wildcats' record to 11-9 while the Sooners fall to 9-16. Kansas State advanced to play No. 2 seed Texas A&M at 8:30 at the Streich Tennis Courts. Texas A&M posted a 6-1 victory over Kansas State on April 15.
Oklahoma State, seeded No. 6, blanked 11th-seeded Missouri 4-0 in the noon match. The Cowgirls, ranked No. 51 nationally, swept doubles then picked up its second point when Missouri's Yelena Olshanskaya retired at No. 1 singles due to an injury. Wins at No. 5 and 6 sealed the victory for OSU. The Cowgirls, now 14-9 on the season, will now take on No. 3 seed Texas at 8:30 a.m. at the Baylor Tennis Center. Texas defeated OSU on March 26 in Stillwater, 6-1. Missouri's record now stands at 10-12.
The third match of the featured No. 5 seed Nebraska and Iowa State, a 12 seed. Again, the higher seeded squad posted a 4-0 victory. The Huskers won at No. 1 and 2 doubles then swept three singles matches at No. 3, 5 and 1, respectively. Nebraska, ranked No. 41 nationally, raised its record to 16-8 while Iowa State drops to 4-14. The Huskers will now take on No. 4 seed Texas Tech beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the Streich Tennis Courts. Texas Tech defeated Nebraska 4-3 on March 26 in Lincoln, Neb.
In a matchup between the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds, eighth-seeded Kansas, despite losing the doubles point, scratched out a 4-3 victory over ninth-seeded Colorado. The Jayhawks, currently ranked No. 64, raised their record to 14-10 while the 53rd-ranked Buffaloes fell to 10-10. Kansas's Stephanie Smith clinched the match for her squad with a three-set win at No. 6 over CU's Martina Sedivec (6-3, 2-6, 6-2). Kansas will now take on the championship's top seed Baylor at noon at the Baylor Tennis Center. Baylor defeated Kansas 6-1 in Lawrence on April 9.
Due to the threat of severe weather on Friday, April 28, the Big 12 Conference has announced a schedule change for the 2006 Men's and Women's Tennis Championships. Only the matches of Friday are affected by the change - Saturday and Sunday matches will remain as scheduled at this time.
Five of the matches will commence at 8:30 a.m., with three beginning at Noon. All nine courts at the Baylor Tennis Center will be utilized, while six courts will be used at the nearby Streich Tennis Courts. Singles matches will be contested first, followed by doubles (if necessary). A coin-toss will take to place to determine whether positions 1, 3 and 5 or 2, 4 and 6 will play the first three matches for each team.
