April 17, 2001

TU Closes Out Regular Season on the West Coast:
This week, the 34th-ranked Tulsa Golden Hurricane (13-6) concludes its regular season with two matches on the West Coast against San Diego (9-8) and San Diego State (13-7).

On Thursday, April 19, Tulsa battles San Diego at 3:30 p.m. The last time the Golden Hurricane and Toreros met was during the 1997-98 season. In that match, the #32-ranked San Diego topped TU, 6-3.

A day later, Tulsa squares off against former Western Athletic Conference rival San Diego State at 4:00 p.m. In just one of six losses last season, Tulsa dropped a narrow, 5-4, decision to the Aztecs in the last meeting between the schools. Both matches will be played in San Diego.

Hurricane Sweeps Oregon, Kansas:
Tulsa's Aleksandra Durska (Pobiedziska, Poland) captured a 6-3, 6-4 win at the No. 2 singles spot over Oregon's Jeanette Mattsson to snap a 3-3 tie and give the Hurricane a 4-3 victory over the Ducks.

A day later, in the final regular season home match ever to be played at the Harwell Tennis Courts, Tulsa's 34th-ranked women's tennis team captured an impressive 6-1 victory over 48th-ranked Kansas.

Durska Reaching elite Status:
In just under two seasons, sophomore sensation Aleksandra Durska has won the second most matches in a two-year period. With 28 wins a year ago and 27 this season, Durska's 55 victories ranks second behind former Tulsa All-American Anousjka van Exel's 73 wins from 1997-99. Durska's 27 wins this season ranks fourth among TU's single-season leaders. She needs one more to tie her third-place mark of 28 set last season and four more victories to tie van Exel's second-place record of 31 wins set during the 1998-99 season.

On TU's career list, Durska is now just four wins shy of catching former Hurricane Tarryn Martin's (1994-98) fifth-place mark of 57.

Hurricane Warnings:
With its 6-1 victory over Kansas in the final home match of the regular season, Tulsa concluded the season with a 7-2 record at home. Over the last three seasons, TU has chalked up an impressive 19-4 mark on its home court.

TU senior Jennifer DeSpain (Edmond, Okla.) clinched the Kansas match for the Hurricane with her 89th career singles victory. DeSpain, the school's all-time winningest singles player, capped off her final home appearance with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over KU's Courtney Steinbock at the No. 3 position.

The 2001 WAC Men's and Women's Tennis Championships will take place at the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center on the campus of Fresno State University, April 27-29.

Since Paige McMurray took over the reigns of the Tulsa women's tennis program prior to the 1998-99 season, the Golden Hurricane has won more matches over the last three years than any other three-year period in school history. With two matches remaining in the regular season, TU is 46-20 (.700) under McMurray.