Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Baylor
Cowgirls Upset Top-Seeded Baylor, Advance to Conference Finals
April 27, 2013 | Cowgirl Tennis
April 27, 2013
NORMAN, Okla. -
Oklahoma State's women's tennis team has advanced to the conference championship for the first time in 10 years after upsetting 19th-ranked and top-seeded Baylor, 4-3, in Norman, Okla., on Saturday afternoon. Karyn Guttormsen clinched the victory for the Cowgirls in a thriller of a three-set win on six.
The Cowgirls (15-7) opened up the match by taking the doubles point with wins on courts two and three. Meghan Blevins and Lorena Gheorghe notched the 8-6 win on two. C.C. Sardinha and Maria Alvarez clinched the point with an 8-6 victory on doubles court three.
The two teams were neck-and-neck from that point on, trading matches throughout the duration of singles play. The Bears recorded the first singles win on three when Baylor's Kiah Generette defeated Cowgirl C.C. Sardinha, 6-2, 6-3, tying the match at 1-1. Shortly after, Kanyapat Narattana responded with a 6-4, 6-1 triumph on four to regain the lead for Oklahoma State.
After being shut out by tenth-ranked Ema Burgic in her first set, Cowgirl senior Malika Rose bounced back to win her second set, 6-4, but was outlasted in the third, allowing Baylor to tie the score at 2-2.
Freshman Maria Alvarez came through for the Cowgirls in the fifth spot, defeating Alex Leatu in straight sets; however the lead wouldn't last long. Baylor's Jordaan Sanford tied the match yet again when she knocked off Meghan Blevins on two.
Sophomore Karyn Guttormsen clinched the match for Oklahoma State with an impressive three set win over Alex Clay on six. Guttormsen rebounded from losing her first set by taking her second and third sets to finish off the Bears.
“I think the biggest thing, at the end, was Karyn (Guttormsen) just had to trust her game,” Cowgirl Tennis coach Chris Young said. “To (Alex Clay)'s credit, she made Karyn earn every point. Karyn stepped up when she needed to and made the shots. The last couple weeks, we've talked to the girls about just trusting their game, trusting your shots and believing you can execute. That's what we kept yelling out to her and that's what she did.”
“It's kind of like a redemption weekend for us,” Young said. “We knew we had to beat three teams this weekend that we hadn't beat before. We hadn't beat Baylor in 12 years, so that was a big step for us. Texas got us earlier in the year, but I think we're a much better team than we were earlier in the season. We're confident. We're going to go in and these girls are going to compete. That's all I can ask for.”
The Cowgirls will face third-seeded Texas in the Big 12 championship on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
No. 4 Oklahoma State 4, No. 1 Baylor 3
Doubles | Order of finish: 2,1,3
No. 1 – No. 8 Burgic/Kisialeva (BU) def. No. 31 Rose/Narattana (OSU) 8-5
No. 2 – Blevins/Gheorghe (OSU) def. Clay/Sanford (BU) 8-6
No. 3 – Alvarez/Sardinha (OSU) def. Leatu/Generette (BU) 8-6
Singles | Order of finish: 3,4,1,5,2,6
No. 1 – Ema Burgic (BU) def. No. 63 Malika Rose (OSU) 6-0, 4-6, 6-2
No. 2 – Jordaan Sanford (BU) def. Meghan Blevins (OSU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 – Kiah Generette (BU) def. C.C. Sardinha (OSU) 6-2, 6-3
No. 4 – Kanyapat Narattana (OSU) def. Maria Biryukova (BU) 6-4, 6-1
No. 5 – Maria Alvarez (OSU) def. Alex Leatu (BU) 7-6 (8), 6-4
No. 6 – Karyn Guttormsen (OSU) def. Alex Clay (BU) 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4
Players Mentioned
