Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Women Open Spring Tennis Season
June 21, 1999 | Women's Tennis
January 27, 1999
LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech University women's tennis team will begin the 1999 spring season with three matches this week. The Red Raiders open with Abilene Christian University at the ATC on Thursday, January 28 at 1:30 pm followed by two matches this weekend versus the University of Texas and Southern Methodist University.
Leading Tech this season will be sophomore Zana Zlebnik (Slovenia) who was last year's Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year. Zlebnik was also named to the All-Big 12 singles and doubles team with junior Amanda Earhart (Nashville, TN). In addition, she became the first women in Red Raider history to advance to the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Individual Championships.
"We are excited to start the season with three quality opponents," Director of Tennis Tim Siegel said. "We have some very talented newcomers and one of the best players in the Big 12 in Zana Zlebnik. I feel this could be one of our most talented women's teams I've had here at Texas Tech."
Three new faces mark the Red Raiders roster this season. Ghislaine Hernandez (Mexico), Noel Ruiz (Paraguay) and Anna Serot (Spain) are all in their first season with the squad. Sophomore Alenka Ovin is also in her first season of competition with the Red Raiders. She practiced but did play for the team last year. Hernandez and Ovin competed during the fall season while Ruiz and Serot will be seeing their first action of the year. Hernandez's fall record was 1-6 while Ovin went 5-5. These four newcomers will look to help Tech improve upon last year's 12-11 overall record and 5-6 finish in the conference.
The match against Texas will be begin at noon on Saturday, January 30 and be held indoors at the Lubbock Country Club. The SMU contest is slated to start at 10 am on Sunday, January 31 and will played at the ATC. Admission to all matches is free.
