Feb. 26, 2003

MANHATTAN, Kan. - The Kansas State tennis team opens its seventh season of Big 12 Conference play Saturday when it hosts Texas Tech at noon at Ahearn Field House.

The 59th-ranked Wildcats sport a 4-1 dual record and will be looking to rebound from a 5-2 loss on Feb. 22 to No. 40 Mississippi. K-State will be protecting a three-match home winning streak that began on Jan. 25.

The Lady Raiders are 1-3 on the year and 1-1 in the league. They lost at Baylor, 7-0, and beat Iowa State, 7-0, last weekend.

Kansas State leads the series with Texas Tech, 6-3. The teams first met in 1984 and K-State has won the last five matches, including five of six since joining the Big 12. In their 10 meetings, including Saturday, the Wildcats and Lady Raiders have met in two season- and three conference-openers. In last year's match, senior Petra Sedlmajerova and sophomore Maria Rosenberg picked up two of Kansas State's four singles wins, while two of the three Wildcat doubles teams won.

Two Wildcats, Rosenberg and freshman Jessica Simosa, sport undefeated records in singles this season. Rosenberg has won five straight and has a 1-0 record at No. 1 singles and a 4-0 mark at No. 2. Simosa also has a five-match winning streak with all of her wins coming at No. 3 singles.

In doubles, the team of Sedlmajerova and junior Paulina Castillejos are 4-1, while the team of Cooper and Simosa are 3-1.

Texas Tech is led by junior Irina Tereschenko, who boasts a 2-2 overall record and 1-1 mark in Big 12 play at No. 1 singles. Tereschenko teams with senior Beverly Dawson at Texas Tech's No. 1 doubles team that is 13-3 overall and 1-1 in league play this spring. The duo is ranked No. 41 in the latest Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings.