Austin, Texas - Championships host Texas won its seventh Big
12 Women's Tennis Championships title Sunday at the Penick-Allison
Tennis Center on the University of Texas campus. The Longhorns defeated
Baylor, 4-3, to top the Bears in the championships final for the second
time in Big 12 History.
Unlike the first title match meeting in 2000, when Texas shut out Baylor
5-0, the contest was decided by the last singles match on the court.
Katie Ruckert (Texas) clinched the victory for the 'Horns rebounding
from a loss in the first set to win at No. 4 (5-7, 6-4, 6-1) over
Daniela Covello (Baylor). Texas (20-5) jumped out to a 1-0 lead after
claiming the doubles point en route to upsetting top-seeded Baylor
(22-5). The No. 3 duo of Kelly Baritot/Courtney Zauft and No. 2 team of
Petra Dizdar/Mia Marovic (Texas) edged their opponents by the identical
score of 8-4, consecutively.
In singles action, Marovic left the court first with a straight set rout
(6-3, 6-0) of Zuzana Cerna (Baylor) in the No 2 singles match. Marovic
earned the championships' Most Outstanding Peformer Award for her
performance during the tournament. Marovic posted a win in every match
she completed this weekend (one match did not finish because Texas had
already tallied the necessary points to win the match) in both singles
and doubles -- the Split, Croatia native was 2-0 in singles and 3-0 in
doubles.
Baylor's Zuzana Krchnakova answered Marovic's victory with a two-set win
(6-1, 6-2) over Ristine Olson in the No. 6 singles match. Zuzana
Zemenova added another point to BU's effort defeating Dizdar 6-2, 6-4 at
No. 1. Zauft broke the 2-2 tie after topping Klara Zrustova (Baylor)
7-5, 6-3. But, Baylor knotted the match again with a win at No. 3
(Carolin Walter), which turned the focus to the only remaining match on
the court at No. 4.
Sunday's final marked the eighth of nine total Big 12 Championships
appearances for UT. The Longhorns won the first six titles of the
conference's era (1997-2002), and finished as the runner-up in 2004 (4-3
loss to Texas A&M) prior to this season's crown. Oklahoma State won the
only other crown in '03.
With the championships victory, Texas earned the conference's automatic
bid to the 2005 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championships. First and
second round action begins May 13-14 on to be determined campus sites.