March 12, 2003

WACO, Texas - Baylor's women's tennis team travels to Malibu, Calif. to take on Pepperdine in a match on Thurs., March 12 at 3:30 p.m. (CST). Also, the Bears remained at No. 42 in the national rankings as released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association today.

Baylor, currently 4-6 on the season and 3-0 in Big 12 play, will face assistant coach Cintia Tortorella's alma mater when they play the 48th-ranked Pepperdine Waves. The Waves sport a 6-6 record and recently posted a 4-3 victory over TCU, a team that the Bears lost to 5-2. Pepperdine is led by two players that are ranked among the nation's top 50 players. Freshman Natalie Braverman is No. 41 and junior Charlotte Vernaz is ranked No. 50.

Baylor is led by Vida Mulec, the team's lone senior. Mulec, who had dropped out of the national rankings, is now ranked No. 107 after upsetting Missouri's 27th-ranked Urska Juric last week. For her efforts, Mulec was named Big 12 Women's Tennis Player of the Week.

Upon returning from southern California, the women's team will host two matches this Saturday and Sunday. The Bears will put their unblemished league mark on the line when they take on No. 53 Kansas State (6-2, 2-1) on Sat., March 15 at noon. They will host No. 25 Illinois (8-3) on Sun., March 16 at 10 a.m. Both matches will be contested at the Baylor Tennis Center.