Feb. 27, 2014
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Mizzou tennis team concludes its long slate of road contests with three matches this weekend. The Tigers open with a doubleheader on Friday, Feb. 28 in South Carolina, where the squad faces Wofford at 9 a.m. ET before opening Southeastern Conference play against No. 42 South Carolina at 5 p.m. ET. Missouri then travels to Gainesville, Fla., for a match against No. 5 Florida on Sunday, March 2 at 1 p.m. ET.
The Tigers went 1-1 last weekend to enter the three-game slate with a 3-6 record in the spring season. In a doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 23, Missouri suffered a 6-1 loss at South Florida before rebounding to defeat Oakland 7-0. A match against Central Florida was cancelled mid-match (tied 2-2) due to inclement weather.
Sophomore Kelli Hine leads the team with five singles victories, all at No. 5 play. Senior Cierra Gaytan-Leach and freshman Tracy Dong both have four wins to their credit, at No. 1 and No. 5 singles, respectively.
Wofford enters Friday's match with a 4-3 record, including wins over North Carolina A&T (7-0), USC Upstate (6-1), East Tennessee State (4-2) and North Greenville University (7-0). Audrey Coventry, Julia Paulson and Catherine Martin all have four wins to lead the Terriers.
The Gamecocks sit at 9-2 on the year and No. 42 in the ITA rankings. Two players are in the ITA singles rankings: No. 85 Brigit Folland and No. 90 Katerina Popova. Popova leads the Gamecocks with a 9-1 mark in dual singles, with a 2-1 record at No. 1, 5-0 at No. 2 and 2-0 at No. 3 action.
Sunday's opponent, Florida, is ranked fifth in the current ITA team rankings with an 8-2 record. Throughout the year, the Gators have defeated seven ranked foes, including wins over No. 6 Southern Cal (4-1), and No. 14 Virginia (4-2). Six different Gators sit in the ITA singles rankings: No. 7 Olivia Janowicz, No. 24 Brianna Morgan, No. 27 Alex Cercone, No. 34 Sofie Oyen and No. 45 Kourtney Keegan.
Following the three-match road trip, the Tigers return home for three matches next weekend. Missouri takes on Vanderbilt on Friday, March 7 at 5 p.m., then hosts Kentucky on Sunday, March 9 at 10 a.m., followed by a 3 p.m. match against Bradley.
