Cowgirls Finish Action at Season-Opening Tournaments

Friday, January 13

Las Vegas, Nev

All Day

Oklahoma State University

Freeman Memorial Tournament

Photo by: International Tennis Hall of Fame

January 15, 2017 | Cowgirl Tennis

STILLWATER – The Oklahoma State women's tennis team finished its weekend competing at the Freeman Memorial Tennis Championships in Las Vegas, Nev., and the National Collegiate Tennis Classic in Palm Springs, Calif., on Sunday afternoon

The weekend was a tough test, mentally and physically, for the Cowgirls, who were forced to wait through lengthy rain delays at both events during the weekend. The fields at both tournaments were unmatched, as the four Cowgirls in Las Vegas matched up against competitors from No. 1 Florida, No. 2 North Carolina, No. 3 Pepperdine, No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 25 UCLA and host UNLV. Meanwhile, the National Collegiate Tennis Classic's field boasted teams such as Stanford and UCLA as well, along with No. 17 Texas, No. 18 USC, Baylor, Wichita State, San Diego and Arizona.

"Overall, this weekend was exactly what we needed, especially for the four in Vegas with the amount of matches we got against a loaded field," head coach Chris Young said. "We have a lot of things to improve, but I really like the way our team competes and the expectations they have for themselves. I know everyone is excited to have a good week of practice in preparation for our opener on Friday and another tough weekend ahead."

Sophomore Sofia Blanco and freshman Aliona Bolsova took the doubles backdraw title with a pair of wins on Sunday. The Cowgirl youngsters opened the day by taking down Florida's Spencer Liang and Brooke Austin, 7-6, to advance. In the finals, Bolsova and Blanco toppled North Carolina's Rachael James-Baker and Chloe Ouellet-Pizer, 6-3.

Overall, the tandem of Bolsova and Blanco went 3-1 in Vegas to move to 11-4 on the season as a pair.

In singles, Bolsova moved her record on the weekend to 2-1 with a straight-set, 6-1, 6-1 win over Stanford's Taylor Davidson. In the singles backdraw, Blanco fell to No. 71 Caroline Doyle of Stanford in a 7-6, 6-3 match to finish the weekend at 2-2 in singles action.

The Cowgirls' success in doubles continued in Palm Springs as OSU's Lena Ruppert and Katarina Stresnakova tallied a 6-4 victory over Neda Koprcina and Petra Granic of Texas.

In her consolation singles match, Stresnakova came up just short, falling, 6-4, 0-6, 10-8 to UCLA junior Kristin Wiley.

With their final individual tournament until the NCAA Championships out of the way, the Cowgirls now turn their attention to dual season. OSU will host three matches in the Michael and Anne Greenwood Tennis Center next weekend, beginning with a doubleheader against Oral Roberts and Louisiana Tech on Friday. The Cowgirls will take on Oral Roberts at 1 p.m., before their matchup with Louisiana Tech at 5 p.m.

Oklahoma State will wrap up the weekend on Saturday at 10 a.m. against North Texas. Admission to all matches is free.

Las Vegas Results

SINGLES FLIGHT ONE SEMIFINALS (Jan. 15)
Melissa Lord (STAN) def. Ingrid Neel (UF) 6-7, 6-4, 6-3
(1) #4 Ena Shibahara (UCLA) def. (6) #22 Mayar Sherif Ahmed (PEPP) 6-4, 6-3

SINGLES FLIGHT ONE FINALS (Jan. 15)
Melissa Lord (STAN) def. (1) #4 Ena Shibahara (UCLA) 6-3, 6-3

SINGLES FLIGHT TWO FINALS (Jan. 15)
Jean Runglerdkriangkrai (PEPP) def. Jovana Kenic (UNLV) 6-4, 6-3

DOUBLES FLIGHT ONE SEMIFINALS (Jan. 15)
(1) #2 Jessie Aney/Hayley Carter (UNC) def. Chalena Scholl/Kaitlyn McCarthy (DUKE) 6-2
(2) #3 Mayar Sherif Ahmed/Christine Maddox (PEPP) def. (4) #9 Ena Shibahara/Jada Hart (UCLA) 7-6

DOUBLES FLIGHT ONE FINALS (Jan. 15)
(1) #2 Jessie Aney/Hayley Carter (UNC) def. (2) #3 Mayar Sherif Ahmed/Christine Maddox (PEPP) 7-6

DOUBLES FLIGHT TWO FINALS (Jan. 15)
Laura Gulbe/Dzina Milovanovic (PEPP) def. Paola Artiga/Anna Bogoslavets (UNLV) 6-0

DOUBLES CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS (Jan. 15)
#58 Aliona Bolsova/Sofia Bianco (OSU) def. Brooke Austin/Spencer Liang (UF) 7-6
Chloe Ouelett-Pizer/Rachael James-Baker (UNC) def. Viktoriya Lushkova/Katarina Adamovic (OSU) W/O

DOUBLES CONSOLATION FINALS (Jan. 15)
#58 Aliona Bolsova/Sofia Bianco (OSU) def. Chloe Ouelett-Pizer/Rachael James-Baker (UNC) 6-3

ADDED SINGLES MATCHES (Jan. 15)
(7) #30 Anna Danilina (UF) def. (2) #8 Luisa Stefani (PEPP) 7-6, 4-6, 7-5
#48 Carol Yang (UNLV) def. Spencer Liang (UF) 6-2, 5-7, 11-9
Cristina Moroi (UNLV) def. Liz Yao (STAN) 7-5, 7-5
Mercedes Lopez (UNLV) def. Paulette Wolak (STAN) 6-0, 6-1
Alaina Miller (UCLA) def. Maggie Kane (UNC) 6-3, 6-3
En-Pei Huang (UNLV) def. Christine Maddox (PEPP) W/O
Aliona Bolsova (OSU) def. Taylor Davidson (STAN) 6-1, 6-1
Emily Arbuthnott (STAN) def. #45 Makenna Jones (UNC) 6-1, 6-3
Brooke Austin (UF) def. Chloe Ouelett-Pizer (UNC) 6-4, 6-4
Jada Hart (UCLA) def. Cassandra Vazquez (UNC) 6-0, 6-4
Terri Fleming (UCLA) def. Dzina Milovanovic (PEPP) W/O

ADDED DOUBLES MATCHES (Jan. 15)
Taylor Davidson/Emily Arbuthnott (STAN) def. Meible Chi/Alyssa Smith (DUKE) 6-2
Cristina Moroi/Jovana Kenic (UNLV) def. Paulette Wolak/Liz Yao (STAN) 6-2
Ingrid Neel/Anna Danilina (UF) def. #8 Luisa Stefani/Jean Runglerdkriangkrai (PEPP) 7-5
Terri Fleming/Alaina Miller (UCLA) def. Cassandra Vazquez/Alexa Graham 6-3
Carol Yang/En-Pei Huang (UNLV) def. Makenna Jones/Maggie Kane (UNC) 6-2
Palm Springs Results

DOUBLES
Ruppert/ Stresnakova (OSU) def. Koprcina/Granic (Texas) 6-4

SINGLES CONSOLATION
Kristin Wiley (UCLA) def. Katarina Stresnakova (OSU) 6-4, 0-6, 10-8