May 12, 2000

DURHAM, N.C. - The No. 37 ranked Arkansas women's tennis team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday with a 5-2 victory over No. 40 North Carolina at the Duke Tennis Stadium on the campus of Duke University. Arkansas will advance to play the winner of the Duke/Winthrop match, which will be played on Friday afternoon at 2:30 PM.

Arkansas was led by the nation's 18th ranked singles player, Chin Bee Khoo, who posted a 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 82 Marlene Mejia in singles play. Then, in doubles action, Khoo teamed with Brenda Vlasak for the match-winning 8-1 victory over Mejia/Jessica Zaganczyk.

The Lady Razorbacks led 4-2 after singles play was concluded and needed to win only one doubles match to advance. The first four singles players for Arkansas notched victories on the day. At No. 2 singles, Andrea Ho won 6-3, 6-2 over Zaganczyk, Brenda Vlasak defeated Kendrick Bunn 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-1, and Adriana Lopez knocked off Caroline Hill 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

North Carolina earned singles wins at No. 5 with Courtney Zalinski defeating Tara Reid (6-4, 6-0) and at the No. 6 slot with Kristin Koenig downing Julia Boyadjieva (6-4, 6-3).

With today's victory Arkansas head coach Kevin Platt picked up his 100th career win. The victory was also the first for Arkansas in NCAA action since 1988.

Arkansas improves to 10-12 and North Carolina concludes the season with a 10-14 record. Arkansas will play the Duke/Winthrop winner at 4:00 PM on Saturday.

Arkansas Head Coach Kevin Platt
"Obviously, it [the match] was very hard fought and in the beginning we showed a little bit of rust since not playing since April 19. At No. 3 & No. 4 singles, after losing the first sets and being down a little bit in the second, coming back and winning those in three sets were a really big boost for us. Obviously, it hurt North Carolina I'm sure emotionally and physically too. Those are tough matches. We played nicely all through doubles. It was nice to see our No. 1 doubles team win decisively."

North Carolina Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
"I thought Arkansas played real well. We had some very closely contested matches and it seemed like they were able to come on top today. We had exams here this whole week leading up to this event. I think that it took a little bit out of us at the end of some of those tough matches. I saw some spotty play and lack of concentration and I think that came with the lack of sleep we had this week."