March 16, 2011
|  | | DOUBLES | SINGLES | F | | #1 | #2 | #3 | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | |
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| | | | | | | 7
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| Singles | Result | Novakova d. McGraw, 6-1, 6-0
| | Nakic d. Blajkevitch, 6-3, 6-3
| | Secerbegovic d. Venter, 6-2, 6-0
| | Filipiak d. Witten, 6-4, 6-4
| | Danaila d. Testerman, 6-1, 6-2
| | Stainback d. Morrow, 6-1, 6-0
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| Doubles | Result | Novakova/Secerbegovic d. Blajkevitch/Witten 8-3
| | Nakic/Stanivuk d. Testerman/McGraw, 8-4
| | Morrow/Venter d. Filipiak/Stainback, 8-4
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WACO, Texas - On a breezy evening at the Baylor Tennis Center, Baylor's 10th-ranked women's tennis team blew past Kentucky without dropping a singles set in a 7-0 victory on Wednesday in Waco, Texas.
"I like the way our team came out and executed today," head coach Joey Scrivano said. "Kentucky came out and fought hard, so I was proud of the way our team responded and kept their focus. It was great to see Cristina (Danaila) back out on the court, she played really well for her first match back. It's definitely going to help our team to have some options at the bottom of our lineup."
Baylor started the day with a few changeups in the doubles combinations, and was able to put together convincing victories on Courts 1 and 2 to earn the point. The changes came in the form of the successful fall duo of Nina Secerbegovic and Sona Novakova on Court 1, as well as Diana Nakic teaming with Jelena Stanivuk for the first time in their careers.
The Baylor duo of Secerbegovic and Novakova brought a No. 42 ranking into the match, but hadn't teamed together since the fall tournament season. However, it didn't take long for the two to find their comfort zone, cruising to an 8-3 win over UK's Khristina Blajkevitch and CeCe Witten.
Meanwhile, the first-time duo of Stanivuk and Nakic were on the same page from the start against the Wildcats' Misha Testerman and Caitlin McGraw. Baylor's duo jumped out to a 7-2 lead, and closed it out for an 8-4 win to clinch the point.
In singles, Scrivano made some last-minute changes to the lineup as well, with different players on Courts 4, 5 and 6. The Lady Bears had their normal lineup of Novakova, Nakic and Secerbegovic at the first three positions, and played Karolina Filipiak at No. 4, Cristina Danaila at No. 5 and Abby Stainback at No. 6.
With the clean sweep of the Wildcats, Novakova and Stainback each made quick work of their matches, losing just one game apiece. Novakova, ranked 19th, defeated UK's McGraw 6-1, 6-0, while Stainback posted the same score over Meredith Morrow.
Just a short time later, Baylor had two more points on the board, which including the match-clinching fourth point from No. 34 Secerbegovic, who defeated Marni Venter 6-2, 6-0. Danaila, who was playing the first dual-match of her career after sitting out the first 11 matches with a shoulder injury, looked impressive in a 6-1, 6-2 win over Kentucky's Misha Testerman on Court 5.
On the final two courts, Filipiak and Nakic each had to battle from behind in the first set. On Court 2, Nakic was on serve, but down 3-2 before she broke the serve of Khristina Blajkevitch twice in a row for a 6-3 set win. The 44th-ranked junior then added a 6-3 in the second set to close out the win. Filipiak, on the other hand, faced a 3-1 deficit in the first set, but got two breaks in a row to go on to win 6-4, 6-4.
The Lady Bears will be back on the court on Friday in Big 12 play against Kansas State. In the third match of the current five-match homestand, Baylor and the Wildcats will hit the hard courts at 5 p.m. at the Baylor Tennis Center.
