GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Oklahoma State Cowgirl tennis team was unable to win its close matches against South Alabama on Sunday in the consolation round of the ITA National Indoor kick-off weekend at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex.
South Alabama won two of the three singles matches that went three sets for a 4-3 victory.
USA's Alina Volman downed Oklahoma State's Alisa Buslaieva 1-6, 6-0, 6-1 at No. 6 singles. Katie Welch of South Alabama beat OSU's Iryna Khatsko 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4 singles. Buslaieva and Khatsko are both freshmen.
“It's a lot of pressure on the new players with the match on their shoulders,” Oklahoma State coach Julius Lubicz-Majewski said.
The Lady Jaguars (2-1) secured the crucial doubles point with Erica Krisan and Katie Welch's 8-2 win over OSU's Buslaieva and Maryna Tkachenko at No. 3 singles. Oklahoma State (0-2) got a win at No. 1 doubles from Jo-Anne Karaitiana and Nataliya Shatkovskaya. The Cowgirl duo downed Michaela Babicova and Alina Volman 8-5. USA's Syvlannie Spangenberg and Marie Boura scored an 8-6 win over Khatsko and Aleksandra Belova at No. 2 doubles.
“It was very important to win the doubles point and they were able to do it,” Lubicz-Majewski said.
OSU and South Alabama split wins in the six singles matches, but the three wins were enough to clinch the match. OSU got wins at No. 1 singles from Karaitiana, at No. 2 singles from Shatkovskaya and at No. 5 singles from Tkachenko.
The Cowgirls return to action Saturday against Eastern Michigan at 2 p.m. in Edmond.
“We learned a lot from this and we'll get ready for next week,” Lubicz-Majewski said.
MATCH RESULTS
Singles
No. 1 – Jo-Anne Karaitiana (OSU) def. Sylvannie Spangenberg (USA) 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 – Nataliya Shatkovskaya (OSU) def. Michaela Babicova (USA) 6-3, 7-6 (7-2)
No. 3 – Erica Krisan (USA) def. Aleksandra Belova (OSU) 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 – Katie Welch (USA) def. Iryna Khatsko (OSU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
No. 5 – Maryna Tkachenko (OSU) def. Marie Boura (USA) 6-3, 6-4
No. 6 – Alina Volman (USA) def. Alisa Buslaieva (OSU) 1-6, 6-0, 6-1
Doubles
No. 1 – Karaitiana/Shatkovskaya (OSU) def. Babicova/Volman (USA) 8-5
No. 2 – Spangenberg/Boura (USA) def. Khatsko/Belova (OSU) 8-6
No. 3 – Krisan/Welch (USA) def. Buslaieva/Tkachenko (OSU) 8-2
