Green Wave have another chance to knock off a nationally-ranked team as Hurricane come to town No. 54
NEW ORLEANS – Monday’s Conference USA women’s tennis match between Tulane and Tulsa has been postponed until Tuesday, March 17, at 9 a.m. due to wet playing surfaces at the Goldring Tennis Center.
The match was originally slated to begin on Monday at 2 p.m., but heavy rain in the New Orleans area overnight and in the early-morning hours pushed the start time back until 2 p.m. in order to give the courts time to dry. The rain continued to fall into the early afternoon, however, and the match was delayed until 7 p.m.
While the rain subsided, the Goldring courts were too wet to allow game officials to green-light the match. Without the benefit of sunlight or a steady win, the match was postponed until Tuesday to ensure each student-athletes’ safety.
Tulane enters the C-USA contest 8-9 on the year, 1-3 in league play and looking to snap a two-match skid. The Green Wave had won four straight matches at one point, but a 4-3 loss to league foe UCF on March 10 and a 6-1 loss to No. 45 Virginia Tech on March 12 have the team looking to get back on track.
As a team, the Wave are 50-48 in singles play so far this spring, including a 14-3 showing by freshman Mariam Kurdadze and an 8-6 mark by fellow rookie Lindsay Dvorak. Kurdadze has won her last eight singles matches, and the last six of those contests came in No. 2 action following the addition of Anna Bartenstein to the active roster. Bartenstein officially joined the team prior to the Inaugural Islander Invitational on Feb. 28 and is 4-2 since assuming the No. 1 spot in the lineup.
Tulane has shown steady improvement in doubles play as the year has progressed and is now 20-25 in doubles play. Kurdadze and Dvorak are 9-3 this season, including consecutive wins over Houston, UTEP, Illinois State, UCF and Virginia Tech.
Tulsa, meanwhile, comes to town 15-3 on the year and riding the crest of a two-match winning streak after posting victories over Kansas (6-1) and Kansas State (4-0) on March 6-7, respectively. As a team, the Golden Hurricane are 74-26 in dual-match singles play so far this spring and are led by Anastasia Erofeeva with a 15-1 mark in dual-match play.
In doubles play, Tulsa is 34-13 in 2009, including an 10-5 showing by the duo of Erofeeva and Jie Zeng.
Following Tuesday’s match against Tulsa, Tulane will close out its five-match homestand against Oregon on Thursday, March 26. Admission to all Tulane home tennis matches is free.
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