Women's Tennis Set for Home Finale This Weekend
BOULDER - The University of Colorado women's tennis team finally returns home this weekend and will close out of the regular season portion of their schedule against a pair of Big 12 Conference opponents in No. 64 Oklahoma and No. 35 Nebraska on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
The Buffaloes (9-10, 4-5) spent the last seven matches on the road going 2-5, however, their two wins came last weekend at Kansas (5-2) and against No. 65 Kansas State (4-3).
This weekend's matches are key in the conference standings with the Sooners on Saturday, 11 a.m. at the South Campus Tennis Courts. OU brings a 14-9 overall mark into Boulder and a 4-5 Big 12 record. In the conference standings, the two are tied for sixth place with the conference tournament beginning April 28-May 1 at the University of Texas.
CU head coach Nicole Kenneally will be coaching against her alma mater, Oklahoma, where she was a two-time NCAA qualifier and the 1994 Big Eight Player of the Year. The Sooners lead the all-time series 18-10 and have won the last two in the series.
On Sunday, both No. 34 Nebraska and No. 62 CU will close out the regular season at the South Campus Tennis Courts starting at 11 a.m. The Cornhuskers have won six in a row and their 17 victories are the second most under head coach Scott Jacobson. Senior Gitte Ostermann's singles ranking of No. 18 earlier in the spring season was the highest in school history. She is now No. 36 nationally.
CU is led by senior Kendra Strandemo. The four-year standout will be playing her last singles and doubles matches this weekend. Strandemo has accumulated 68 career singles and 48 doubles victories over her four-year career. Her 68 singles wins ranks 14th all-time at CU.
Martina Sedivec is coming off an impressive week after earning CU's Athlete of the Week honors for the first time. Sedivec won a pair of singles matches at No. 5 and added two more with doubles partner Lynzee Kever last weekend at KU and K-State, respectively. Sedivec has won 10 dual matches at No. 5 and 16 for the year, while freshman Veera Nurmi leads the team with 17 wins.
Four other CU women have won at least 14 singles matches this year (Gleisy Torres Torres has 15; Kever, Strandemo, Jessica Vanderdys with 14 each).
In doubles, Jenny Hanson and Lynzee Kever have won the most dual doubles matches on the team with eight, while Strandemo and Jessica Vanderdys are the No. 43rd nationally ranked doubles team.
In case of inclement weather, both women's matches will be moved to the Ranch Country Club in Westminster and will start at 4 p.m.