Jan. 25, 2009

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - The Texas Tech women's tennis squad suffered a tough 4-3 loss to Mississippi State at the Lubbock Country Club on Sunday.

The Lady Raiders (1-1) began singles with a dominant performance from senior Samantha van der Drift. She beat Mississippi State's No. 1 Martina Banikova 6-0, 6-3. Tech took the overall lead 1-0.

The Bulldogs (2-0) won the next three matches to put the pressure on Tech. Freshman Natalie Leitch fell 6-2, 6-2 to Radka Ferancova and then Kelsy Garland fell in a tough three set battle with Olesya Tsigvintseva 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Mississippi State's Valeriya Makarycheva beat Kerryn Potgieter 6-1, 6-4 to put the Lady Raiders on the brink of a loss.

The Lady Raiders stepped up in its final two single matches. Simone Templeton won a marathon match that lasted three hours, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 over MSU's Elna de Villies. Stefanie Peana forced the dual match into doubles play beating Natalia Mayuk in three sets 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

The duo of Potgieter and Templeton won the first doubles match 8-5 over Villies and Banikova to give Tech the advantage. Mississippi State's Ferancova and Juskova beat Leitch and Peana 8-6 to put the pressure on the No. 1 double's teams.

The final doubles match of the day pitted Tech's van der Drift and Garland taking on Tsigvintseya and Mayuk of Mississippi State. The match was a back and forth battle with and ended going to a tie-break with Mississippi State grinding out a victory 8-8 (9-7).

The Lady Raiders return to action Feb. 7th against Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Singles: 1, 3, 2, 6, 4, 5 1. Samantha van der Drift (TTU) def. Martina Banikova (MSU) 6-0, 6-3 2. Olesya Tsigvintseya def. Kelsy Garland (TTU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. 3. Radka Ferancova def. Natalie Leitch (TTU) 6-2, 6-2 4. Simone Templeton (TTU) def. Elna de Villies (MSU) 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 5. Stefanie Peana (TTU) def. Natalia Mayuk (MSU) 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 6. Valeriya Makarycheva def. Kerryn Potgieter (TTU) 6-1, 6-4

*-clinched double point #-clinched match