University of Minnesota Athletics
Women's Tennis Travels to Missouri
3/9/2011 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
After wrapping up a seven-game homestand last weekend, the Minnesota women’s tennis team will hit the road for a road match against No. 63 Missouri in Columbia, Mo. on Friday at 6 p.m. The Gophers were originally scheduled to play a neutral site match against ITA Central Region foe Drake at 11 a.m. on Friday, but that match was cancelled.
Minnesota is 9-6 against the Tigers all time and has beaten Mizzou in each of the last three seasons. Last year when Missouri visited the Baseline Tennis Center, the Gophers earned a dominating 6-1 victory. Doubles tandems Alexa Palen and Alessandra Ferrazzi and Doron Muravnik and Magdalena Wiecha contributed to a sweep of the doubles competition and all four of those players, who are still currently on the team, recorded straight-set wins in singles.
The Gophers are coming off a weekend in which they lost two matches to a pair of ranked opponents, No. 54 Wisconsin and No. 32 Nebraska, dropping them to 4-6 in dual-match play. The 6-1 defeat at the hands of the Badgers was the team’s second Big Ten loss of the season. Minnesota’s 7-0 loss to the UNL two days later came with 54th-ranked Natallia Pintusava, Alessandra Ferrazzi, and Yuliana Umanets, arguably the team’s top three players, out of the lineup.
Off to a 7-3 start on the season, Missouri has played against three Big Ten opponents, one more than the Gophers. The Tigers took down Iowa and Michigan State and lost to No. 57 Purdue. Earlier this week, Mizzou earned its win against the Spartans a day after falling 5-2 against William & Mary, who will host the Gophers next week.
After its match in Columbia, the Minnesota will head east to face a trio of opponents during spring break from North Carolina: UNC-Wilmington, William & Mary, and North Carolina. The Gophers will then take a week off before they start to get into the bulk of their Big Ten with matches against Michigan and Michigan State at the Baseline Tennis Center on April 2 and 3.
