Cowgirls Face No. 25 Washington, Northwestern in Seattle

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STILLWATER – The 11th-ranked Oklahoma State women's tennis team wraps up its road trip this weekend as it heads to the Pacific Northwest to take on No. 25 Washington and No. 38 Northwestern.

The Cowgirls (8-3) will open the weekend with the Huskies at the Nordstrom Tennis Center on Friday at 4 p.m. PT. The squad will return on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT to face the Wildcats.

Watch the Matches
Both matches this weekend can be streamed online on gohuskies.com. Live scoring will also be available.

About the Cowgirls
Oklahoma State returns five contributing letterwinners from a 2015-16 campaign that saw the Cowgirls post the best finish in program history, earning the title of NCAA Runners-Up. Last season, OSU racked up a 29-5 record on the way to earning the program's first Big 12 Championship in 13 years, thanks in part to a 9-0 conference record.

The OSU roster is headlined by three standout seniors in Katarina Adamovic, Viktoriya Lushkova and Carla Tur Mari. Adamovic is coming off an impressive junior season that saw the Cacak, Serbia native earn her first ITA All-American honor by way of advancing to the NCAA individual quarterfinals last summer. A two-time All-American and the 2015 Big 12 Co-Player of the Year, Lushkova has been a key to the Cowgirls' unprecedented success as well, riding into the fall season on an 18-match win streak. Tur Mari provided a major boost to the back end of the OSU singles lineup in 2016, going 22-8 in the No. 6 spot.

Also returning for the Cowgirls are junior Vladica Babic and sophomore Katarina Stresnakova. Babic tallied six victories over ranked opponents in 2016, including a triumph over No. 28
Kennedy Shaffer of Georgia to help push the Cowgirls to a win over the Bulldogs in the NCAA Sweet 16. The highlight of Stresnakova's first season in Stillwater came in the NCAA Tournament, when the Slovakia product took down Ferny Angeles Paz of Ohio State in the NCAA quarterfinals to clinch the win over the Buckeyes and push the Cowgirls in to the national semifinals.

The Cowgirls boasted one of the most impressive doubles records in the country in 2016, winning all but one doubles point in 34 matches. With the level of talent set to return, that success figures to continue this upcoming season.

Head coach Chris Young enters his eighth season at the helm of the Cowgirl tennis program after earning his 100th win with the program last season. Young is assisted by second-year assistant coach Matt Manasse.

Notable Streaks and Trends
?The Cowgirls have spent 48 consecutive weeks in the ITA top 25. The last time OSU was outside the top 25 was March 18, 2014.
?The Cowgirls have won 20 or more matches in each of the last two seasons.
?Oklahoma State has won 14-straight regular season conference matches dating back to March 29, 2015, when the Cowgirls came up short, 4-3, at Texas Tech.
?Since 2012, OSU has made five-straight NCAA Tournament appearances. That streak is the second-longest in program history behind a 10-year streak that saw the Cowgirls earn NCAA Tournament berths from 1982-91.
?OSU has won 27-straight matches at the Greenwood Tennis Center, dating back to March of 2015.
?The Cowgirls were impressive during the fall, racking up a 65-16 (.802) overall singles record and a 28-14 (.667) overall mark in doubles.
?That success has continued this spring, as OSU opened the 2017 dual season with six sweeps in its first 11 matches.

Last Time Out
The Oklahoma State women's tennis team came up short to the top-ranked Florida Gators Saturday afternoon at the Ring Tennis Center. The match wraps up a stretch in which the Cowgirls played four top-10 teams in a single week.

No. 1 Florida 4, No. 6 Oklahoma State 2
Feb. 18, 2017 | Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex | Gainesville, Fla.

Doubles | Order of finish: 1, 3
No. 1: No. 5 Babic/Tur Mari (OSU) def. No. 18 Austin/Keegan (UF) 6-4
No. 2: No. 22 Danilina/Neel (UF) vs. Bolsova/Blanco (OSU) 6-6
No. 3: Lushkova/Adamovic (OSU) def. No. 17 Kuhlman/Woolcock (UF) 7-6(2)

Singles | Order of finish: 1, 2, 3, 5, 4
No. 1: No. 40 Belinda Woolcock (UF) def. No. 10 Viktoriya Lushkova (OSU) 6-3, 3-0, inj.
No. 2: No. 45 Ingrid Neel (UF) def. No. 56 Katarina Adamovic (OSU) 6-3, 6-2
No. 3: Aliona Bolsova (OSU) def. No. 23 Anna Danilina (UF) 7-6(5), 6-4
No. 4: No. 19 Josie Kuhlman (UF) def. No. 33 Vladica Babic (OSU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
No. 5: Brooke Austin (UF) def. No. 86 Lena Ruppert (OSU) 7-5, 1-6, 6-4
No. 6: No. 30 Kourtney Keegan (UF) vs. No. 77 Sofia Blanco (OSU) 4-6, 6-4, 3-2

Huskies from a Distance
The Washington Huskies enter this weekend's match ranked No. 25 and winners of four-straight matches.

The Huskies are coming off a weekend in which they knocked off Houston and UC Santa Barbara in a pair of home sweeps. Washington has swept three-straight opponents, going back to Feb. 11, when it dropped San Diego State, 7-0, in Moraga, Calif.

Sophomore Stacey Fung leads the Huskies' singles charge, having opened the season with an 8-2 overall record at the No. 1 spot. Senior Nour Abbes and junior Miki Kobayashi figure to get the start at No. 1 doubles, going 4-1 in dual action so far this season.

Head coach Robin Stephenson enters her fourth season at the helm of the Washington tennis program.

Breaking Down the Wildcats
Northwestern boasts a 5-4 overall record heading into Saturday's contest with the Cowgirls.

The WIldcats are coming off a win in their Big Ten opener against Illinois, as they dropped the Illini, 6-1, in Evanston. Northwestern has endured a tough stretch over the last month in which the team lost four-straight matches at the hands of Duke, Vanderbilt and Baylor.

Erin Larner has led the Wildcats at No. 1 singles, going 4-1 in the top spot. Northwestern will also field the ninth-ranked doubles team in the country in Maddie Lipp and Alex Chatt, who have gone 13-5 overall this season.

Longtime head coach Claire Pollard is in her 29th season at Northwestern, and picked up her 500th career win earlier this year.

Home Court Advantage
Since it opened for the 2013-14 season, the Michael and Anne Greenwood Tennis Center has proven a tough place to play for Cowgirl opponents. After an undefeated 18-0 mark at home last year, OSU has racked up a 42-2 overall record in the facility over the last three seasons. A look at the numbers:

Season                 OSU Record at GTC
2013-14                6-1
2014-15                13-1
2015-16                18-0
2016-17                5-0
Total                     42-2

Series Notes: Washington
?Friday will mark the second all-time meeting between the Cowgirls and the Huskies.
?OSU took the first meeting between the two teams last season at the Greenwood Tennis Center, 4-0.
?The Cowgirls have split matches against Pac-12 foes this season, dropping California, 4-2, at the National Indoor Championships last month, but falling to Stanford, 4-1, in Florida.

Series Notes: Northwestern
?Oklahoma State and Northwestern will meet for the fifth time in the two programs' histories on Saturday.
?Dating all the way back to 1983, the series is currently split, 2-2. Saturday will mark the first neutral contest between the teams.
?Northwestern took the first matchup in the series, 8-1, in Evanston.
?The Wildcats will be the Cowgirls' second Big Ten opponent this year, with the other being Ohio State, who narrowly defeated OSU, 4-3, at the ITA National Indoor Championships.
?Head coach Chris Young is 1-1 against Northwestern in his OSU career.

Super Seniors
The experienced Cowgirl roster includes three seniors this season, all of which have been major contributors to the growth of the OSU women's tennis program. Katarina Adamovic, Carla Tur Mari and Viktoriya Lushkova have combined for 238 singles wins, 251 doubles wins, three All-America honors and 10 All-Big 12 accolades while helping the Cowgirls to a 76-23 dual record.

Record Watch
?Viktoriya Lushkova's .810 career win percentage in singles ranks second all-time in program history. She is the first player since Kate Vasylyeva in 2003 to break onto that list.
?With 88 career singles wins, Viktoriya Lushkova is currently third on the Big 12 era career list, and only six wins away from sealing the No. 1 spot. She is fifth on the doubles Big 12 era list with 82 career wins.
?With 82 career doubles wins, Katarina Adamovic sits in fifth on the program Big 12 era career doubles wins list. With a .798 win percentage in doubles, Adamovic's doubles win percentage leads the Big 12 era list in that category as well, along with Vladica Babic.
?With 85 career doubles wins, Carla Tur Mari is currently the program's active leader in that category, while also sitting in fourth in the Big 12 era program record book. She is also fourth in singles with 87 career wins.

Cowgirls in the ITA Rankings
The Oklahoma State women's tennis team came in at No. 11 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association team rankings released last week. With this week's rankings, the Cowgirls have been represented in the ITA top 25 for 48 consecutive weeks.

The Cowgirls also moved up a spot to No. 5 in the USTA Top 25.

Senior Viktoriya Lushkova moved up one spot to No. 9 in last week's single's rankings, marking not only a career high, but also the highest individual ranking by a Cowgirl in school history.

Following a weekend in which she knocked off Florida's No. 23 Anna Danilina, freshman Aliona Bolsova made the biggest jump of any Cowgirl in last week's rankings, moving from unranked to No. 54. It marks her first time to appear in the poll.

Also appearing in the singles rankings for OSU last week were Carla Tur Mari (No. 46), Vladica Babic (No. 50), Katarina Adamovic (No. 56) and Sofia Blanco (No. 101).

Led by Carla Tur Mari and Vladica Babic at No. 6, three competing Cowgirl doubles teams appear in the doubles rankings. Bolsova and Blanco come in at No. 31, while Lushkova and Adamovic are slotted at No. 34.

Young Guns
While the 2016-17 Cowgirl roster boasts plenty of experience, the young talent that head Coach Chris Young has brought on board over the last couple of seasons is evident as well, especially with a pair of newcomers.

Freshman Aliona Bolsova (Spain) joined the Cowgirls this fall after finishing one of the most decorated junior careers of any signee in Cowgirl history, having been been ranked as high as No. 4 in the ITF world junior rankings with a number of impressive wins under her belt.

Freshman Lena Ruppert (Germany) has been ranked as high as the No. 70 player in Germany, while recording five wins against players in the top-50. Ruppert came to OSU this fall rated as one of the top-10 players under the age of 18.

Impressively, the Cowgirl underclassmen (Bolsova, Ruppert, and sophomores Sofia Blanco and Katarina Stresnakova) have combined for a 59-18 record (.766 win pct.) so far this season.

Viki the Clincher
Senior Viktoriya has been a force early on in the Cowgirls' 2017 campaign, going 5-3 in the No. 1 singles spot.

Lushkova has clinched four of OSU's last five wins, including a three-set thriller over Cal standout Maegan Manasse to lock up the Cowgirls' 4-2 win over No. 8 California at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

The Cowgirl senior also clinched OSU wins over Ole Miss, Tulsa and Cornell.

Light it Up, Lena
Freshman Lena Ruppert impressed in her first few dual weekends as a Cowgirl, winning six of her first seven matches.

A deeper look into the numbers, however, shows an even more remarkable start for the German newcomer. In her opening four dual matches, Ruppert played a full 46 games before dropping one.

Ruppert figures to be a contributor in the Cowgirl lineup throughout the remainder of her freshman season, having posted a 15-4 overall singles record so far with a 6-2 mark in duals.

Dominating the Big 12
The Cowgirls have arisen as a force in the Big 12 Conference over the last several seasons. Since 2013, OSU has won 28 conference matches, which ranks second only to Baylor's 31.

The Cowgirls have made three of the last four Big 12 Championship matches, finally breaking through to win their first since 2003 last year with a 4-0 win over Texas Tech.

OSU has won 14-straight regular season conference matches, dating back to March of 2015. That mark ranks third among Power Five schools, behind North Carolina and Florida.

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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