Texas Tech University Athletics
Lady Raiders Set For Big Weekend
February 05, 2015 | Women's Tennis
February 5, 2015
LUBBOCK, Texas - For Lady Raider Tennis, there is no better era of success than right now.
A lot of that success can be attributed to Texas Tech head coach Todd Petty, who is in his seventh season at the helm of the Lady Raider program.
That success will be tested this weekend, as the Lady Raiders host No. 24 Ole Miss and No. 32 Rice. Texas Tech will face Ole Miss on Friday at 5 p.m. at the McLeod Tennis Center and then face off with Rice on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the McLeod Tennis Center.
In conjunction with the two matches, the Lady Raider tennis staff will host a pair of clinics prior to the two matches. On Friday, the clinic for Lubbock area youth begins at 4 p.m., while on Sunday, it will start at 10 a.m. The clinic is free and open to the public.
If Petty's Lady Raiders can capture both wins this weekend, he will become the fastest women's tennis coach in school history to reach 100 wins. Petty is currently 98-57 (63.2 percent). Mickey Bowes, who coached the Lady Raiders from 1978-89, reached 100 victories in 159 matches. If Petty and the Lady Raiders sweep the competition, he will have reached the mark in 157 matches.
Petty is second only to Bowes in career wins. Bowes was 156-90 (63.7 percent) in 10 seasons at the helm of the program. Petty is second on the career coaching list in wins (98), winning percentage (63.2 percent), home wins (50) and away/neutral wins (48). He is the school's all-time winningest coach in conference dual matches with a 38-22 mark (63.3 percent).
When the Lady Raiders face off with Ole Miss, it will mark the fifth-ever meeting between the two squads. The two teams first met in 1983 at the SMU Invitational in Dallas, where the Lady Rebels edged Texas Tech, 5-4. Fast forward to 2010, Ole Miss swept the Lady Raiders, 7-0 in Oxford.
But when the two teams met in February of 2012, it marked the beginning of a new era for Texas Tech women's tennis. The Lady Raiders pulled out an amazing 4-3 victory indoors at the Lubbock Country Club, as former Lady Raider netter and all-time victories leader Nikki Sanders picked up a straight-set win over Julia Jones for the fourth and deciding point.
Since that match, Texas Tech has gone 35-21 against teams ranked in the ITA Top 75. Prior to that point, Texas Tech was 32-126 against ranked opponents since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996-97.
Ole Miss avenged the loss in Los Angeles last year in the NCAA Championship first round, with a 4-3 win over Texas Tech.
But surprisingly, the Lady Rebels are 0-2 in matches played in Lubbock, as Ole Miss lost in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Championships at the McLeod Tennis Center.
As for the Owls, Rice leads the all-time series, 15-9, but since the arrival of Petty, Texas Tech is 3-2 against the Owls. The Red Raiders have won the last three meetings against Rice. Prior to that, the last Texas Tech victory against Rice came in 1990.
Senior Kenna Kilgo has captained the top spot for the Lady Raiders. She is 4-4 on the season and ranked No. 113 nationally. Lynn Kiro and Sarah Dvorak have helped anchor the top three spots. Kiro is 10-6 on the season and currently ranked No. 83, while Dvorak is 14-6 this year.
Midseason freshman enrollee Gabriella Talaba is 2-2 so far this season and has played both the No. 3 and No. 4 positions for Texas Tech so far. Sabrina Federici holds down the No. 5 spot with a stellar 15-2 record, while the sixth spot has been held down by Katelyn Jackson (13-6) and Samantha Czarniak Rego (11-4).
In doubles, Kilgo and Dvorak have held down the top spot. The duo is just 1-6 together, while Dvorak is 6-10 on the season and Kilgo is 2-8. The No. 2 spot has been solidified by Kiro and Federici, who are 3-3 as a tandem. Federici is 7-5 and Kiro is 7-6 in doubles overall. Hortense Boscher and Gabriela Talaba are at No. 3.
The pair are 6-1 as a combo. Boscher is 11-6 in doubles, while Talaba is 6-1. Ole Miss is led by No. 72 Jones, who is the Lady Rebel No. 1 player and 14-3 on the season. Arianna Hartono is 11-4 at No. 2, while Mai El Kamash is 14-5 at No. 3. Natalie Suk (4-4) holds down the fourth spot, while Iris Verboven (8-7) plays No. 5 and Zalina Khairudinova (8-5) is at No. 6.
Lady Rebel doubles is paced by No. 51 Erin Stephens and Verboven, who are 9-4 overall. Natalie Suk and Jones (2-0) play No. 2, while Hartono and El Kamash (8-4) are No. 3.
Rice is paced by No. 93 Natalie Beazant (13-3) at No. 1, Liat Zimmerman (2-5) at No. 2 and No. 73 Katherine Ip (5-6) at No. 3. The bottom of the order has been Savannah Durkin (10-5), Alison Ho (10-8) and Solo Zinko (8-8).
Doubles for the Owls is led by No. 20 Beazant and Zimmerman (3-2), Ho and Ip (1-0) at No. 2 and Durkin and Zinko (4-2) look to find themselves in at No. 3.
After this weekend, the Lady Raiders will host No. 58 Memphis on Thursday, Feb. 12, and No. 45 Utah on Saturday, Feb. 14. In all, seven of the first eight of the Lady Raiders' opponents are ranked in the ITA Top 75. It is only the second time in program history that Texas Tech has face seven ranked opponents in its first eight games.
Players Mentioned
