Josbena helps Tigers right ship

Erica Josbena helped the Missouri women’s tennis team get back on track.

The Tigers had lost three straight matches before defeating Kansas State 5-2 on Friday at Green Tennis Center.

They then came back Saturday and jumped out to a 4-0 lead against Kansas and cruised to another 5-2 victory.

The victories improved the Tigers to 14-5 on the season, and 4-4 in the Big 12.

Josbena, a sophomore, only lost five games in her two matches this weekend.

She played nearly error free, spraying backhands and forehands down the lines and out of the reach of her opponents.

“I just came out these last couple matches with a lot of confidence and wanted to pick up a few more wins,” Josbena said.

The confidence she has now was lacking last season.

Coach Blake Starkey says that during her freshman season, Josbena was trying to find herself on the court and was eventually taken out of the starting line-up.

Although it was hard for Josbena to take, it helped her grow as a player.

Starkey says that she is more comfortable on the court and because of that, she is starting to play like the player he saw at nationals when he recruited her.

“She’s really starting to play exceptionally, and I just love coaching her,” Starkey said. “She listens, she’s intense, and to see what she is doing this year is just great.”

The two wins this weekend improved her record to 11-7 on the season.

Josbena, though, wasn’t the only one that looked impressive in the match on Saturday.

Katka Sevcikova, Yelena Olshanskaya and Lubica Nadasska all won their singles matches in straight sets, with Sevcikova only losing one game.

“In this match, I was just really proud of the girls because they each came out and played the certain way they wanted to,” Starkey said.

Although the Border Showdown rivalry is there between the two schools, Starkey says that his team genuinely likes the women on Kansas’ team.

“They have a clean cut group of girls. We actually pull for them when they aren’t playing us and I think they pull for our team when they’re not playing us.”

The victory over Kansas was the Tigers’ third straight against the Jayhawks. Before that, Missouri had lost the previous 30 meetings between the two teams.