April 22, 2004
WACO, Texas - The Baylor women's tennis team, ranked No. 44 nationally, closes out its regular season schedule with a trip to Ames, Iowa, to take on the Iowa State Cyclones. The match will begin at 10 a.m. on Friday, April 23 at Iowa State's Forker Courts.
The Lady Bears, 11-10 on the season and 7-3 in Big 12 play, currently sit in fourth place in the league standings, just behind Oklahoma. Baylor, an extremely young team with three freshmen, four sophomores and a junior, has played an extremely tough schedule. Eight of Baylor's 21 matches were against teams ranked 20th or higher and all but three of its matches have been against ranked opponents. The Lady Bears are led this season by three freshmen and a junior. Freshmen Carolin Walter and Iva Mihaylova have both eclipsed the 20-win mark this season. Walter, ranked No. 50 nationally, is 23-10 on the year playing at No. 1 and Mihaylova is 23-10 playing mainly at the No. 6 position. Freshman Klara Zrustova has 19 wins to her credit and has won seven straight matches, the team's longest current active win streak. Junior Daria Potapova is 18-11 in singles this year. In doubles, sophomore transfer Daniela Covello and Zrustova have won four straight matches at No. 2, including a 7-3 record in league play.
Despite their youth up and down the lineup, the bottom half of the ladder has been extremely strong for the Lady Bears this season, especially in league play. In eight of Baylor's 10 conference matches, Baylor players have swept singles matches at courts four, five and six.
Iowa State enters the contest with a 5-10 overall record and is 0-7 in the Big 12. The match, the Cyclones' last home match of the season, will feature senior Sabrina Evers', playing her last match at Forker Courts. After facing Baylor, Iowa State will then head to Okahoma and Oklahoma State for a pair of matches.
Following the match at Iowa State, Baylor will continue to prepare for the Big 12 Tournament, April 29-May 2. The tournament, hosted by the University of Oklahoma, will be held at OU's Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman, Okla. A fourth place league finish would give the Lady Bears a first round tournament bye. They would play at 12 p.m. on Friday, April 30 against the winner of the No. 5/No. 12 match.
