Texas Tech University Athletics
No. 18 Texas Tech Travels To No. 64 SMU
January 31, 2014 | Women's Tennis
Kenna Kilgo and the Lady Raiders play at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Northwood Club Tennis Courts.
January 31, 2014
LUBBOCK, Texas - Texas Tech has proved itself at home during the Todd Petty era, but the difference between good teams and great teams is winning on the road.
No. 18 Texas Tech (3-1) travels to No. 64 SMU (1-1) on Saturday to face the Mustangs at 1 p.m. at the Northwood Club Tennis Courts while the new SMU men's and women's tennis complex is being built. The address for the Northwood Club is 6524 Alpha Road. The match was originally scheduled for noon, but has since been moved to 1 p.m.
Under Todd Petty, the Lady Raiders are 42-11 at home, winning 79.2 percent of their matches. More impressively, they are 28-3 (90.3 percent) since the start of the 2011 season. Texas Tech is just 27-21 on the road since Petty was named head coach. Last season, the Lady Raiders were 6-3 against ranked opponents on the road.
Texas Tech began the 2014 spring season with its highest-ever preseason ranking in school history at No. 18. The previous best mark was last season, as the Lady Raiders were ranked No. 21 to start the season.
Texas Tech opened with a pair of sweep wins over Wyoming and Texas State, before falling to No. 16 Vanderbilt at the ITA Kickoff Weekend event in Lincoln, Neb., last weekend. The Lady Raiders rebounded with a 4-1 win over No. 25 Nebraska on the road.
The Lady Raiders were 13-7 against ranked opponents last season. If Texas Tech is going to have that kind of success this season, it will have to start at SMU. The Lady Raiders are 3-22 all-time against SMU but have won the last two meetings in the series. Tech dropped the Mustangs, 6-1, in Lubbock last year.
The Lady Raiders are led by No. 58 Kenna Kilgo and No. 92 Lynn Kiro in singles, but also keep an eye on Nikki Sanders, who picked up a win over Vanderbilt's No. 48 Georgia Sellyn. Sanders is 12-4 on the season, bring her career total to 85-23. She is the second-winningest player in the modern era at Texas Tech.
Leading the Lady Raiders in doubles is the most decorated tandem in school history - Kilgo and Samantha Adams. The two-time NCAA doubles participants are currently No. 25 nationally. The tandem is 11-3 this season and 58-20 over the last three seasons.
Prior to leaving for SMU, the Lady Raiders spent the day with The Tennis Channel's Inside College Tennis on the Texas Tech University campus.
