After a dominant performance against the Mississippi Rebels on Sunday, the No. 17 TCU women’s tennis team will face the No. 13 Baylor Bears 6 p.m. today at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.TCU head coach Jefferson Hammond said the 6-1 win over Mississippi will give the Horned Frogs confidence as they go into the Baylor match.
The Bears, who are also coming off a convincing 4-1 victory over the Rebels on Saturday, will be pitted against the Horned Frogs’ highest-ranked doubles team in school history.
Sophomore Anna Sydorska and senior Ana Cetnik, who rank No. 3 in the country according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, enter today’s match having won there last four doubles contests.
Cetnik and Sydorska are coming off a solid 8-4 victory over Kseniia Tokarieva and Ilona Somers of Mississippi.
The Horned Frog duo will play Zuzana Cerna and Zuzana Chmelarova of Baylor, who defeated Tokarieva and Somers 8-6 Saturday.
In singles competition, Cetnik, the No. 23 ranked singles player in the country, will face Cerna.
Cerna and Cetnik will be looking to redeem their previous performances as both players lost to Somers over the weekend.
No. 88-ranked Sydorska will be looking for her sixth-straight singles win today after beating Nika Koukhartchouk of Mississippi on Sunday.
After Sunday’s match, Sydorska said she was having problems staying focused on the court.
“I won, but I didn’t play as well as I could have,” Sydorska said. “It’s not that I was sick or tired at all. I didn’t feel very good mentally.”
The Horned Frogs currently have a record of 4-3 on the season.
The Bears, 4-4 on the season, were ranked No. 6 in the preseason polls but after several players suffered injuries the team began to struggle, quickly dropping to No. 13 after a three-match skid.
The Bears have had a solid run as of Feb. 20 when they trounced Harvard 7-0, which put an end to their losing streak.
The Horned Frogs have a 17-8 all-time record against Baylor. The teams’ last meeting resulted in a 4-3 Bears victory.
After today’s match, the Frogs will play six straight road matches, beginning with one in Norman, Okla. on Mar. 3 against the Oklahoma Sooners.
