Horned Frogs Welcome No. 5 Baylor Friday
4/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 16, 2009
FORT WORTH, Texas - The No. 28 TCU women's tennis team will wrap-up the 2009 regular season Friday, hosting No. 5 Baylor at 5 p.m. at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. The match will serve as the final tune up for the Horned Frogs before the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Albuquerque, N.M., April 22-25.
The Frogs (13-9, 7-1 MWC) concluded the MWC schedule last weekend with wins over Air Force, Colorado State and New Mexico. TCU is currently riding a six-match winning streak and have earned 7-0 sweeps in three of their last four matches. Sophomore Katariina Tuohimaa was named MWC Women's Tennis Player of the Week Wednesday for her performance over the weekend, going undefeated in singles and doubles action. Freshman Kayla Duncan claimed a perfect 8-0 singles record against the league and currently paces the squad with 14 wins for the year.
TCU is currently ranked 28th in the latest ITA poll. Also in the rankings for the Purple and White, junior Nina Munch-Soegaard sits at No. 14 in singles action, while also being listed at No. 80 in the doubles rankings with sophomore partner Maria Babanova. The doubles tandem of seniors Macall Harkins and Anna Sydorska moved to No. 31 in doubles action, while Harkins is also listed at No. 78 in singles play.
Before the match begins, TCU will take time out to honor both seniors prior to the last home match of their careers. Sydorska, a 2007 doubles All-American, enters Friday with a career singles record of 73-43 (.629) and a doubles record of 99-42 (.702). The Lviv, Ukraine is currently tied with former All-American Rene Simpson for the second-most wins in program history and just six wins shy of matching Lori Nelson for the most all-time with 105 victories. Sydorska is also 10th all-time in TCU history for career combined victories (172).
Harkins transferred to the Horned Frogs from Illinois prior to the 2007 season. After sitting out a year due to NCAA regulations, Harkins has been a force at the top of the TCU lineup for the past two seasons. The 6-0 southpaw holds a 39-23 (.629) overall singles record since donning the Purple and White, and has teamed up for a 44-24 (.647) doubles clip. Harkins and Sydorska have served as one of the top doubles duos in the country in the last two years, ranked as high as No. 9 in the nation by the ITA, and earning a NCAA Doubles Championships bid in 2008.
No. 5 Baylor (17-4, 8-0 Big 12) will be the highest ranked opponent for the Frogs this season. The Bears are coming off of a 6-1 win over No. 35 Texas A&M in College Station on Wednesday. BU has four players ranked in the top-64 in singles play, led by No. 31 Lenka Broosova with a 16-3 record, including a 7-4 mark against ranked opponents. Nina Secerbegovic is currently riding a 15-match win streak in single action, while No. 64 Csilla Borsanyi, and No. 44 Jelena Stanivuk have earned victories in their last 10 matches. Borsanyi and Broosova enter Friday ranked as the No. 8 doubles tandem in the land, while Stanivuk and Taylor Ormond are list at No. 64.
TCU dominated the Bears early in the all-time series, claiming the first 13 meetings between the two storied programs from 1976 and 1993. Baylor has since stolen the momentum, owning an 11-4 clip against the Horned Frogs, including wins in the last five meetings.
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