Cowgirls Close Play at ITA Grass Court Invitational

NEWPORT, R.I. – The Oklahoma State women's tennis team wrapped up play at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Hall of Fame Grass Court Invitational Sunday afternoon at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. After a 4-1 performance on Sunday, the Cowgirls wrapped up the event with an impressive 16-3 overall record.

"This was a great opening weekend for us," assistant coach Matt Manasse said. "Every girl showed up each day in tough conditions on grass and competed until the very end. I was just so happy with the toughness on every court. We really made big strides to start the fall and know what to work on when we get back to Stillwater."

With no doubles on the agenda Sunday, the Cowgirls closed the weekend with five singles matches. Sofia Blanco, Vladica Babic and Lena Ruppert finished the weekend undefeated, each tallying wins on the event's final day.

Babic picked up her second ranked win of the weekend with a triumph over No. 77 Rasheeda McAdoo of Georgia Tech, 2-6, 6-1, 11-9, to complete her sweep of the Billie Jean King singles flight.

Ruppert and Blanco were both impressive in their first action as Cowgirls. Ruppert finished undefeated in the Monica Seales singles flight after a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Georgia Tech's Anton Ohlmeyer. After coming up short in her first set against Georgia Tech's Kenya Jones, Blanco came back to gut out the victory, 1-6, 7-6(5), 11-9 for her sweep of the Chris Evert flight.

Senior Carla Tur Mari and sophomore Katarina Stresnakova both finished the weekend at 2-1 in their respective singles flights. Tur Mari won easily, 6-1, 6-1, over California's Alexis Nelson Sunday to finish off her weekend. Stresnakova fell just short of forcing a third set in her match with California's Karla Popovic, dropping the match, 1-6, 6-7(7).

In all, the Cowgirls took singles titles in three flights Sunday and a doubles title in one on Saturday, capping off a successful overall weekend.

"Todd Martin, Brewer Rowe and the whole Hall of Fame staff put on a fantastic event," Manasse said. "They really rolled out the red carpet for all of the programs and everyone felt so welcome at the Hall of Fame. It was awesome to have a new event to showcase college tennis and they did a great job as hosts."

The Cowgirls will be back in action on Oct. 1, when a handful of Cowgirls will be competing at the 2016 ITA All-American Championships.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Vladica Babic

Sofia Blanco

Lena Ruppert

Katarina Stresnakova

Carla Tur Mari

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