March 21, 2004

LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech women's tennis team fell to No. 41 Baylor this afternoon at the McLeod Tennis Center. With what proved to be two fantastic matches, seniors Irina Tereschenko and Kendall Brooks walked away with wins on the singles court. Tereschenko upset No. 38 singles player, Carolin Walter. The Lady Raiders saw victory at the number two position on the doubles court, but Baylor walked away with the doubles point.

In singles action at the first position, Tereschenko knocked off No. 38 Carolin Walter, 4-6, 6-2, 12-10 (tiebreak,) to capture the upset. Taking home Tech's second singles victory was Brooks in the second position who defeated Daniela Covello, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. In the third position, sophomore Tara Browning was defeated by Stephanie Balzert, 6-3, 6-4, while freshman Lakann Wagley lost to Daria Potapova, 6-1, 6-1, in the fourth position. In the fifth position, sophomore Katja Kovacic lost to Iva Mihaylova, 6-1, 6-1, and rounding out singles play in the sixth position was freshman Hristiyana Gocheva who was defeated by Zuzana Krchnakova, 6-3, 6-0.

"Our top two players; Irina picked up a big win over a nationally ranked opponent, and this is a huge win for Kendall," said head coach Cari Groce. "I think our other players are coming along, they're young, our team is young, and I think with more match play, we'll get better and better. If we can compete this well against Baylor at this point in our building process than that says a lot about where we are and where we're headed."

In doubles play, the Lady Raiders were 1-2 on the day taking home a victory at the second position. Brooks and Browning ousted Covello and Zrustova, 8-3, to take home the win. In the first position, Potapova and Walter defeated Tereschenko and Kovacic, 8-3, while Wagley and Gocheva lost to Balzert and Mihaylova, 9-8, in the third position.

"I thought we played really well," stated Groce. "We beat two teams, UTEP and Air Force, that beat us last year and we came back, played hard and dominated them. We came into today's match playing really well and Baylor is a very good team. To have two match points away from having an opportunity to win the doubles point would have been huge for us, but I think it also says that our doubles combinations are finally coming together and that we're playing good doubles."

The Lady Raiders head to Tulsa next weekend, March 26-27, where they take on Oral Roberts on Friday at 10 a.m. CT and Tulsa on Saturday at noon.

Results listed below:

Singles:

No. 1 Irina Tereschenko (TTU) def. No. 38 Carolin Walter (BU), 4-6, 6-2, 12-10 tiebreak

No. 2 Kendall Brooks (TTU) def. Daniela Covello (BU), 1-6, 6-4, 6-2

No. 3 Stephanie Balzert (BU) def. Tara Browning (TTU), 6-3, 6-4

No. 4 Daria Potapova (BU) def. Lakann Wagley (TTU), 6-1, 6-1

No. 5 Iva Mihaylova (BU) def. Katja Kovacic (TTU), 6-1, 6-1

No. 6 Zuzana Krchnakova (BU) def. Hristiyana Gocheva (TTU), 6-3, 6-0

Doubles

No. 1 Daria Potapova/Carolin Walter (BU) def. Irina Tereschenko/Katja Kovacic (TTU), 8-3

No. 2 Kendall Brooks/Tara Browning (TTU) def. Daniela Covello/Klara Zrustova (BU), 8-3

No. 3 Stephanie Balzert/Iva Mihaylova (BU) def. Lakann Wagley/Hristiyana Gocheva (TTU), 9-8