Cowgirl Comeback Falls Short in Big 12 Championship

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NORMAN, Okla. – The ninth-ranked Oklahoma State women's tennis team nearly clawed back from an early 3-0 deficit, but came up short, 4-2, to No. 7 Texas Tech in the Big 12 title match Sunday at the Headington Tennis Center.

"I told the girls that I'm proud of the way that we competed, head coach Chris Young said. "We competed like champions. We didn't play our best tennis today and a lot of that is credit to Texas Tech, but it didn't look good in the beginning and all of our girls came back. We won four second sets, and one of those was Vladica (Babic) to get a straight-set win and three of them were to send the matches to third sets. Katie (Stresnakova) was one point away from winning her third set. Obviously, (Aliona Bolsova) won hers, and (Adamovic) came up just a bit short. That's all you can ask for as a coach is just to go out and give everything they have. The Cowgirls laid it on the line today."

The Cowgirls (22-5) dropped only their fifth doubles point of the season and four first sets, but bounced back by forcing third sets on three courts. OSU would take the third set on one court and hold match point on another as senior Katarina Adamovic fell short in the third frame of an epic match against No. 62 Felicity Maltby to clinch the match for the Red Raiders.

Texas Tech clinched the doubles point with a pair of 6-2 wins on courts one and two, and in singles picked up a pair of straight-set wins to go up, 3-0, early.

After being shut out in her first set, Lena Ruppert responded nicely in the second, trading breaks with Sarah Dvorak throughout. Dvorak would pull away late, however, taking the final two games of the second frame to hold off the Cowgirl freshman, 6-0, 7-5.

Falling down, 5-0, early in the first set to No. 9 Gabriela Talaba on court one, senior Viktoriya Lushkova quickly put herself back in the match by winning four-straight games before Talaba was finally able to close out the set, 6-4. The pair went blow for blow in the second, but Talaba came away with the 6-4, 6-4 victory to put the Cowgirls' backs against the wall.

Junior Vladica Babic posted the Cowgirls' first response, dealing a 7-5, 6-3 triumph over Sabrina Federici on four to cut the Red Raider advantage to two. Babic posted her fifth-straight win at a critical point in the match, sparking life into the orange-clad crowd and opening the door for a comeback bid.

Freshman Aliona Bolsova stayed hot, coming back from a tough. 6-2, first-set loss to Alex Valenstein on court three to take the second and third, and put OSU only one point back. Bolsova has been nearly automatic in her first season as a Cowgirl, racking up 17 dual wins in the No. 3 spot and a team-leading 28 wins overall.

The Cowgirls would need wins from Adamovic and sophomore Katarina Stresnakova to clinch the win, and as both matches drew to a close, Stresnakova held a third-set match point over Texas Tech's Katelyn Jackson on court six. Adamovic came up just short in the final set on court two, however, falling, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, to Maltby and the Red Raiders escaped with the win.

OSU now awaits its NCAA Tournament fate, which will be revealed Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.

No. 7 Texas Tech 4, No. 9 Oklahoma State 2
April 30, 2017 | Headington Tennis Center | Norman, Okla.

Doubles | Order of finish: 2, 1
1. #30 Sabrina Federici/Sarah Dvorak (TTU) def. #10 Carla Tur Mari/Vladica Babic (OKST) 6-2
2. #75 Gabriela Talaba/Felicity Maltby (TTU) def. #50 Aliona Bolsova/Sofia Blanco (OKST) 6-2
3. Alex Valenstein/Alba Cortina-Pou (TTU) vs. #63 Katarina Adamovic/Viktoriya Lushkova (OKST) 2-5, unfinished

Singles | Order of finish: 5, 1, 4, 3, 2
1. #9 Gabriela Talaba (TTU) def. #7 Viktoriya Lushkova (OKST) 6-4, 6-4
2. #62 Felicity Maltby (TTU) def. #49 Katarina Adamovic (OKST) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
3. #70 Aliona Bolsova (OKST) def. Alex Valenstein (TTU) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
4. #69 Vladica Babic (OKST) def. Sabrina Federici (TTU) 7-5, 6-3
5. Sarah Dvorak (TTU) def. Lena Ruppert (OKST) 6-0, 7-5
6. Katelyn Jackson (TTU) vs. Katarina Stresnakova (OKST) 6-3, 5-7, 3-5, unfinished

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Katarina Adamovic

Vladica Babic

Sofia Blanco

Aliona Bolsova

Viktoriya Lushkova

Lena Ruppert

Katarina Stresnakova

Carla Tur Mari

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