University of Missouri
Saint Louis
Tigers Defeat Billikens 7-0
1/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
Jan. 27, 2007
St. Louis, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's tennis team opened its spring season with a 7-0 victory over the Saint Louis Billikens in front of a large crowd that included two players that will join the Tigers next season.
Tiger Head Coach Blake Starkey expected the nice turnout for the match, held at the Sunset Tennis Center.
"Anytime we play them there is always a decent crowd. It's always that way, its kind of an in-state rivalry."
Mallory Weber and Kaitlyn Ritchie were on hand to see the Tigers start the season.
After the match, Starkey was pleased with his team, but realized there is more work to be done.
"Practices have been going well, we were a little stronger than this team tonight. We saw some things we will work on this week in practice, and just get ready for the next one."
Mizzou's 2007 spring season started on a high note, with the Tigers taking care of all three doubles matches against the Billikens. At No. 1, Mizzou's duo of Raquel Wagner and Katelyn McKenzie took down SLU's No. 1 duo of Katie Lozanova and Tara Grant in a hard-fought match. Each of the four players held their serve through the first four games of the set, but in the fifth game, the Tigers broke Lozanova's serve, giving them a 3-2 lead. Then McKenzie served for the second time in the match and capped off the game by serving an ace to continue the momentum and put the Tigers up 4-2. Next it was Grant's turn to serve, and the Tigers broke her serve, as well, to go up 5-2. Mizzou split the next six games, giving them an 8-5 victory.
On the No. 2 court, Amanda Pratzel teamed up with Charlotte Bellis and took down Ana Renda and Jo Becker, 8-5, in the second match to finish.
The first team to finish was the No. 3 doubles duo of Kaitlin Dunham and Chrissy Svetlic. Dunham's powerful serves and slams at the net combined with Svetlic's perfectly placed serves to give them an 8-2 victory over Rachael McCullagh and Caitlin Bokulic.
In singles action, Pratzel rounded out her good day by defeating Lozanova, 7-5, 6-3, in a hard fought No. 1 singles match. The first set looked to be in the hands of Pratzel, who was up 5-2 and a break. But Lozanova didn't give up easily, she pushed the match to 6-5 where Pratzel won her serve to win the first set, 7-5. The second set was tight, as well. After the first seven games, Pratzel was up 4-3. She broke to go up 5-3 and won her serve, 40-15, to earn a victory in her first match of the year.
Svetlic won her straight set match against Ana Renda, 6-2, 6-3. Svetlic pointed to her use of angles as the reason for the season-opening victory.
At No. 3 singles, Wagner took control of her match at the net, where she won many of her points. Her aggressive play earned her a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Grant.
Bellis won at No. 4 singles, capping off a good day where she won both her doubles and singles match. She won the singles match in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, over SLU's Rachael McCullagh. Starkey was pleased with Bellis' effort.
"Charlotte Bellis played awfully well tonight."
The closest match of the evening occurred on the No. 5 singles court, where Dunham defeated Jo Becker, 4-6, 6-2 (10-8).
McKenzie played in the No. 6 singles spot and she was the first Tiger to finish, winning, 6-2, 6-1. She said one of her keys was getting her powerful first serve to go where she needed it to be. She had a good first-serve percentage which set the tone for the entire match.
Senior Erika Josbena was held out of the match due a mild injury.
Mizzou will open its home season next Saturday against Arkansas.
Doubles 1. Raquel Wagner/Katelyn McKenzie (MU) def. Katie Lozanova/Tara Grant (SLU) 8-5
2. Amanda Pratzel/Charlotte Bellis (MU) def. Ana Renda/Jo Becker (SLU) 8-5
3. Chrissy Svetlic/Kaitlin Dunham (MU) def. Rachel McCullagh/Caitlin Bokulic (SLU) 8-2
Singles 1. Amanda Pratzel (MU) def. Katie Lozanova (SLU) 7-5, 6-3 2. Chrissy Svetlic (MU) def. Ana Renda (SLU) 6-2, 6-3 3. Raquel Wagner (MU) def. Tara Grant (SLU) 6-4, 6-2 4. Charlotte Bellis (MU) def. Rachael McCullagh (SLU) 6-2, 6-2 5. Kaitlin Dunham (MU) def. Jo Becker (SLU) 4-6, 6-2 (10-8) 6. Katelyn McKenzie (MU) def. Caitlin Bokulic (SLU) 6-1, 6-1
## MIZZOU ##
Players Mentioned
