Cyclones Play Host to No. 4 Baylor

AMES, Iowa ? On Friday, the Iowa State tennis team will welcome the defending Big 12 champion Baylor Bears to Ames. The two will face off at the Ames Racquet and Fitness Center at 3 p.m.

The Cyclones enter Friday's match with a 3-3 dual match record. Their last time out, ISU lost a close match with Illinois-Chicago. Last Friday, the Cyclones defeated Drake, 4-3, winning in the final match of the dual. Reka Kelemen, a freshman from Budapest, Hungary, improved to 4-1 in duals this season, defeating Drake's Daria Zawislak in a tiebreaker to decide the third set.

Iowa State senior Caitlin Loprinzi is 6-0 in dual matches this season, playing at the No. 4 singles spot. Her most recent victories came against Illinois-Chicago's Grace Gill-Morlis and Drake's Sarah Plowman.

The Bears are 11-1 overall, and Friday's match will mark their first Big 12 match of the season. Baylor is coming off weekend victories over No. 18 Fresno State and No. 37 Wake Forest.

Zuzana Zemenova, the 25th-rated singles player, is coming off an upset victory over the nation's ninth-ranked singles player, Melanie Gloria. Zemenova is 9-2 in dual matches this season. Her only losses have come to 11th-ranked Megan Moulton-Levy of William & Mary and 22nd ranked Laura Vallverdu of Miami.

Zemenova is also part of the No. 2 doubles team in the country, partnering with Lenka Broosova for an 8-2 record. Zemenova is a three-time All-American and three-time Big 12 Player of the Year. She was the 2005 NCAA singles champion. She was also recently named the Big 12 Player of the Week.

Along with Zemenova, Baylor's roster also boasts the eighth-ranked singles competitor, Lenka Broosova, and the 19th-rated singles player, Taylor Ormond.

Baylor defeated the Cyclones, 7-0, last season. The Bears have won the conference title four out of the last five years.

Players Mentioned

Reka Kelemen

Caitlin Loprinzi

Caitlin Loprinzi

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics