Cowgirls Sweep Doubleheader to Open 2018 Season

Saturday, January 20

Stillwater, OK

6 PM

Oklahoma State University

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Brady Moore

January 20, 2018 | Cowgirl Tennis

STILLWATER – The Oklahoma State women's tennis team swept its season-opening doubleheader Saturday at the Greenwood Tennis Center, defeating Abilene Christian and Oral Roberts.

"I thought the girls competed really well today," head coach Chris Young said. "That's the good thing about this group of girls, is that they compete really hard. I think we have a lot of work to do to get to where we want to be. I thought these matches helped us with some things and exposed some things we need to work on. Monday is going to be a tougher match with Wyoming, so we'll look forward to that. I really like the chemistry these girls have."

In the first match of the day, the Cowgirls dropped the Wildcats, 6-1.

OSU lost only two games across the three courts in doubles, easily taking the doubles point with wins on courts one and three. Newcomers Megan McCray and Shir Hornung struck first at No. 3, shutting out ACU's Autumn Crossnoe and Jordan Henry, 6-0, for their first doubles win of the season. Shortly after, the 20^th-ranked Cowgirl tandem of Vladica Babic and Sofia Blanco defeated Sarah Adams and Whitney Williams, 6-1, to clinch the point.

At the conclusion of doubles play, Marina Guinart and Katarina Stresnakova were leading ACU's Lucile Pothier and Nini Mimishishi, 5-1, but play was suspended.

The Cowgirls quickly clinched the match in singles play, running off straight-set wins on five of the six courts to put the Wildcats away.

Stresnakova had little trouble on court three, as she posted a 6-0, 6-2 triumph over Sarah Adams to stretch the OSU lead to 2-0 and push her overall record on the season to 12-4.

Shortly after Stresnakova's win, Blanco and McCray followed suit on courts five and two, respectively, to clinch the Pokes' first win of the season. Blanco overwhelmed ACU's Jordan Henry, 6-1, 6-0, to put the Cowgirls just a point away from victory, and setting McCray up to secure the win with a 6-1, 6-3 tally over Whitney Williams.

Play resumed after the match was clinched, and it wasn't long before Marina Guinart snagged her first dual win as a Cowgirl. Matched up with Autumn Crossnoe, Guinart turned in a 6-2, 6-2 win to stretch the lead to 5-0.

Babic grinded out a 7-6(4), 6-3 triumph over Lucile Porter in the top singles position in a match that went back and forth for much of the duration. Trailing, 3-2, midway through the second set, Babic won four-straight games to close out the match.

The Wildcats got their only point of the day on court six, dropping Cowgirl freshman Shir Hornung in a third set supertiebreaker, 7-5, 0-6, 10-5.

In the day's second match, OSU made quick work of Oral Roberts, shutting out the Golden Eagles, 4-0.

Once again, the Cowgirls took the doubles point with wins on courts one and three. This time, it was Vladica Babic and Sofia Blanco that tallied the first win of the match, controlling Jovana Antonijevic and Gorana Kadijevic throughout the contest for a 6-1 victory. Katie Stresnakova and freshman Sami Court clinched the point for the Cowgirls, bouncing back from an early, 2-1 deficit to drop Brenda Mercado and Valentina Gisbert, 6-2.

OSU continued its momentum in singles play, as the team took three shutout first sets, and another by a score of 6-1. It wouldn't be long before the Cowgirls started putting points on the team score either, as McCray, Blanco and Stresnakova rattled off straight-set wins to put the match away.

McCray struck first, handling Jovana Antonijevic, 6-1, 6-1, for her second win of the day to push the team score to 2-0.

"I think I played really well today," McCray said. "The atmosphere was really amazing, and I was happy to be back playing here. It was a good start to the season."

Blanco and Stresnakova tallied back-to-back wins on four and two, respectively, to put the Cowgirl victory in the bag. Blanco dropped ORU's Mariia Kuzminskaya, 6-0, 6-1, just before Stresnakova tallied a shutout win over Ceijenia Cornelius.

The Cowgirls will return to the Greenwood Tennis Center on Monday at 5:30 to battle with Wyoming.

No. 16 Oklahoma State 6, Abilene Christian 1
Jan. 20, 2018 | Greenwood Tennis Center | Stillwater, Okla.

Doubles | Order of finish: 3,1
No. 1: No. 20 Babic/Blanco (OSU) def. Adams/Williams (ACU) 6-1
No. 2: Guinart/Stresnakova (OSU) vs. Pothier/Mimishishi (ACU) 5-1, unf.
No. 3: McCray/Hornung (OSU) def. Crossnoe/Henry (ACU) 6-0

Singles | Order of finish: 3,5,2,4,1,6
No. 1: No. 21 Vladica Babic (OSU) def. Lucile Pothier (ACU) 7-6, 6-3
No. 2: Megan McCray (OSU) def. Whitney Williams (ACU) 6-1, 6-3
No. 3: Katarina Stresnakova (OSU) def. Sarah Adams (ACU) 6-0, 6-2
No. 4: #63 Marina Guinart (OSU) def. Autumn Crossnoe (ACU) 6-2, 6-2
No. 5: Sofia Blanco (OSU) def. Jordan Henry (ACU) 6-1, 6-0
No. 6: Nini Mimishishi (ACU) def. Shir Hornung (OSU) 7-5, 0-6, 10-5

No. 16 Oklahoma State 4, Oral Roberts 1
Jan. 20, 2018 | Greenwood Tennis Center | Stillwater, Okla.

Doubles | Order of finish: 1,3
No. 1: No. 20 Babic/Blanco (OSU) def. Antonijevic/ Kadijevic (ORU) 6-1
No. 2: McCray/Hornung (OSU) vs. Vasiljevic/Cornelius (ORU) 5-2, unf.
No. 3: Court/ Stresnakova (OSU) def. Mercado/ Gisbert (ORU) 6-2

Singles | Order of finish: 1,4,2
No. 1: Megan McCray (OSU) def. Jovana Antonijevic (ORU) 6-1, 6-1
No. 2: Katarina Stresnakova (OSU) def. Ceijenia Cornelius (ORU) 6-0, 6-0
No. 3: No. 63 Marina Guinart (OSU) vs. Gorana Kadijevic (ORU) 6-0, 4-2, unf.
No. 4: Sofia Blanco (OSU) def. Mariia Kuzminskaya (ORU) 6-0, 6-1
No. 5: Shir Hornung (OSU) vs. Andrea Vasiljevic (ORU) 7-5, unf.
No. 6: Saralyn Dyer (OSU) vs. Brenda Mercado (ORU) 1-6, 2-4, unf.