Oklahoma State University Athletics
Photo by: Bruce Waterfield
Cowgirls Complete Comeback to Drop No. 22 Arizona State
January 26, 2018 | Cowgirl Tennis
STILLWATER – The 15th-ranked Oklahoma State women's tennis team completed an epic comeback Friday night at the Greenwood Tennis Center, overcoming a 3-0 deficit to drop No. 22 Arizona State, 4-3 in the first round of the 2018 ITA Kickoff Weekend.
After dropping the doubles point and a couple of matches in the back end of their lineup, the Cowgirls looked toward their top four players and a rowdy crowd to lift them to the win and keep them perfect on the season.
"I thought that coming into the match, our strength was the top of our singles lineup," head coach Chris Young said." I thought Arizona State was really strong in doubles and the bottom of the lineup. It turned out that way. I'd take those girls out there all day. The thing I'm most proud of is that I knew our girls were going to compete and give it all until the end. You can't be nervous about that. You just have to lay it all on the line and see what happens."
"The crowd is huge," Young said. "You don't win like we have at home without having the crowd that we had. I think the crowd is only going to grow from a match like this. How can you not love college tennis with a match and a crowd like we had tonight? People are going to want to come back after seeing the effort that both teams gave tonight, especially our kids."
With the win, the Cowgirls find themselves a win away from advancing to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the fourth-straight year. OSU will face No. 23 Ole Miss in the ITA Kickoff Weekend finals Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Greenwood Tennis Center.
The Sun Devils struck first in doubles, claiming the doubles point with a couple of wins on courts two and three to take an early, 1-0 lead. Cowgirls Vladica Babic and Sofia Blanco were able to pick up a win on court one, winning four-straight games to wrap up a 6-2 tally over the 28th-ranked tandem of Arizona State's Savannah Slaysman and Tereza Kolarova. It was Blanco and Babic's sixth ranked win of the season.
The Cowgirls fell down, 3-0, early in singles play, as the Sun Devils notched victories on the back two courts. Blanco dropped her match to No. 83 Savannah Slaysman, 6-1, 6-0, on court five. Freshman Shir Hornung then gave up a 6-3, 6-0 decision to Sasa Klanecek on court four.
From that point, it was all Cowgirls as the team stormed back with four consecutive victories at the front of the lineup to complete the comeback.
Megan McCray got the Cowgirls on the board on court two, tallying a quick, straight-set win over Sun Devil Lauryn John-Baptiste. McCray controlled the match throughout, and finished off the Arizona State freshman for a 6-2, 6-3 win to pull OSU within two points.
After taking the first set from opponent Nicole Fossa Huergo at No. 3, junior Katarina Stresnakova pulled out a tough second set to lock up the match and cut the deficit to 3-2. Stresnakova and Fossa Huergo traded blows for much of the second frame, which eventually went to a tiebreaker. The tiebreak was all Stresnakova, however, with the Cowgirl pulling away and winning three-straight points at the end to take the 7-3 win.
With their backs still against the wall, the Cowgirls would need wins from Vladica Babic and Marina Guinart who both came up with huge second-set wins to keep their matches alive.
"When I was talking to them, I was just telling them that they've got to trust it," Young said. "When we get in third sets, I can't say enough about (strength and conditioning coach) Nick Hoheisel and the work he does with our kids, that's where our fitness can really take over. I thought that really showed today, so credit to Nick. We've got the best fitness coach in the land. I told Marina and Vladi that they just needed to get it to the third set because that's where they can shine."
Guinart pulled out a gutsy, 9-7, win in her second-set-deciding tiebreaker on court four against Tereza Kolarova to push her match to a decisive set. The Cowgirl newcomer jumped up early with a break and eventually stretched her lead to 4-1. Kolarova would not back down, cutting Guinart's advantage to 5-4 with a break of her own; however, the OSU junior rose up in the final game of the match, breaking Kolarova back for the 6-4 set victory to tie the team score at three.
"For me, it was an incredible experience," Guinart said. "I've always wanted to live this experience. When I got to the third set at the same time as Vladi, I just set 'let's do it.' I knew we could do it."
Despite getting the raw end of a 9-7 tiebreaker in the first set, Babic stormed back in the second with a 6-2 win to force a third. In the final frame, Babic jumped up a break, 3-0, but soon found herself tied yet again at three games apiece. After trading games to tie at four-all, Babic stepped up with a hold and clutch break to finish out the win and clinch the match.
"What just happened was incredible," Babic said. "We just knew what we needed to do, honestly. I just believed the whole time that we were both going to do it. It's awesome. We did a really good job, even though we shouldn't have allowed ourselves to be down, 3-0. Since the Wyoming match, we've been making adjustments and I think that really paid off."
No. 15 Oklahoma State 4, No. 22 Arizona State 3
Jan. 26, 2018  |  Greenwood Tennis Center  |  Stillwater, Okla.
Doubles | Order of finish: 3,1,2
1. #20 Vladica Babic/Sofia Blanco (OKST) def. #28 Savannah Slaysman/Tereza Kolarova (ASU) 6-2
2. Lauryn John-Baptiste/Ilze Hattingh (ASU) def. Marina Guinart/Katarina Stresnakova (OKST) 6-2
3. Sasa Klanecek/Nicole Fossa Huergo (ASU) def. Shir Hornung/Megan McCray (OKST) 6-1Â
Singles | Order of finish: 5,6,2,3,4,1
1. #21 Vladica Babic (OKST) def. Ilze Hattingh (ASU) 6-7 (7-9), 6-2, 6-4
2. Megan McCray (OKST) def. Lauryn John-Baptiste (ASU) 6-2, 6-3
3. Katarina Stresnakova (OKST) def. Nicole Fossa Huergo (ASU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
4. #63 Marina Guinart (OKST) def. Tereza Kolarova (ASU) 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4
5. #83 Savannah Slaysman (ASU) def. Sofia Blanco (OKST) 6-1, 6-0
6. Sasa Klanecek (ASU) def. Shir Hornung (OKST) 6-3, 6-0
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After dropping the doubles point and a couple of matches in the back end of their lineup, the Cowgirls looked toward their top four players and a rowdy crowd to lift them to the win and keep them perfect on the season.
"I thought that coming into the match, our strength was the top of our singles lineup," head coach Chris Young said." I thought Arizona State was really strong in doubles and the bottom of the lineup. It turned out that way. I'd take those girls out there all day. The thing I'm most proud of is that I knew our girls were going to compete and give it all until the end. You can't be nervous about that. You just have to lay it all on the line and see what happens."
"The crowd is huge," Young said. "You don't win like we have at home without having the crowd that we had. I think the crowd is only going to grow from a match like this. How can you not love college tennis with a match and a crowd like we had tonight? People are going to want to come back after seeing the effort that both teams gave tonight, especially our kids."
With the win, the Cowgirls find themselves a win away from advancing to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the fourth-straight year. OSU will face No. 23 Ole Miss in the ITA Kickoff Weekend finals Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Greenwood Tennis Center.
The Sun Devils struck first in doubles, claiming the doubles point with a couple of wins on courts two and three to take an early, 1-0 lead. Cowgirls Vladica Babic and Sofia Blanco were able to pick up a win on court one, winning four-straight games to wrap up a 6-2 tally over the 28th-ranked tandem of Arizona State's Savannah Slaysman and Tereza Kolarova. It was Blanco and Babic's sixth ranked win of the season.
The Cowgirls fell down, 3-0, early in singles play, as the Sun Devils notched victories on the back two courts. Blanco dropped her match to No. 83 Savannah Slaysman, 6-1, 6-0, on court five. Freshman Shir Hornung then gave up a 6-3, 6-0 decision to Sasa Klanecek on court four.
From that point, it was all Cowgirls as the team stormed back with four consecutive victories at the front of the lineup to complete the comeback.
Megan McCray got the Cowgirls on the board on court two, tallying a quick, straight-set win over Sun Devil Lauryn John-Baptiste. McCray controlled the match throughout, and finished off the Arizona State freshman for a 6-2, 6-3 win to pull OSU within two points.
After taking the first set from opponent Nicole Fossa Huergo at No. 3, junior Katarina Stresnakova pulled out a tough second set to lock up the match and cut the deficit to 3-2. Stresnakova and Fossa Huergo traded blows for much of the second frame, which eventually went to a tiebreaker. The tiebreak was all Stresnakova, however, with the Cowgirl pulling away and winning three-straight points at the end to take the 7-3 win.
With their backs still against the wall, the Cowgirls would need wins from Vladica Babic and Marina Guinart who both came up with huge second-set wins to keep their matches alive.
"When I was talking to them, I was just telling them that they've got to trust it," Young said. "When we get in third sets, I can't say enough about (strength and conditioning coach) Nick Hoheisel and the work he does with our kids, that's where our fitness can really take over. I thought that really showed today, so credit to Nick. We've got the best fitness coach in the land. I told Marina and Vladi that they just needed to get it to the third set because that's where they can shine."
Guinart pulled out a gutsy, 9-7, win in her second-set-deciding tiebreaker on court four against Tereza Kolarova to push her match to a decisive set. The Cowgirl newcomer jumped up early with a break and eventually stretched her lead to 4-1. Kolarova would not back down, cutting Guinart's advantage to 5-4 with a break of her own; however, the OSU junior rose up in the final game of the match, breaking Kolarova back for the 6-4 set victory to tie the team score at three.
"For me, it was an incredible experience," Guinart said. "I've always wanted to live this experience. When I got to the third set at the same time as Vladi, I just set 'let's do it.' I knew we could do it."
Despite getting the raw end of a 9-7 tiebreaker in the first set, Babic stormed back in the second with a 6-2 win to force a third. In the final frame, Babic jumped up a break, 3-0, but soon found herself tied yet again at three games apiece. After trading games to tie at four-all, Babic stepped up with a hold and clutch break to finish out the win and clinch the match.
"What just happened was incredible," Babic said. "We just knew what we needed to do, honestly. I just believed the whole time that we were both going to do it. It's awesome. We did a really good job, even though we shouldn't have allowed ourselves to be down, 3-0. Since the Wyoming match, we've been making adjustments and I think that really paid off."
No. 15 Oklahoma State 4, No. 22 Arizona State 3
Jan. 26, 2018  |  Greenwood Tennis Center  |  Stillwater, Okla.
Doubles | Order of finish: 3,1,2
1. #20 Vladica Babic/Sofia Blanco (OKST) def. #28 Savannah Slaysman/Tereza Kolarova (ASU) 6-2
2. Lauryn John-Baptiste/Ilze Hattingh (ASU) def. Marina Guinart/Katarina Stresnakova (OKST) 6-2
3. Sasa Klanecek/Nicole Fossa Huergo (ASU) def. Shir Hornung/Megan McCray (OKST) 6-1Â
Singles | Order of finish: 5,6,2,3,4,1
1. #21 Vladica Babic (OKST) def. Ilze Hattingh (ASU) 6-7 (7-9), 6-2, 6-4
2. Megan McCray (OKST) def. Lauryn John-Baptiste (ASU) 6-2, 6-3
3. Katarina Stresnakova (OKST) def. Nicole Fossa Huergo (ASU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
4. #63 Marina Guinart (OKST) def. Tereza Kolarova (ASU) 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4
5. #83 Savannah Slaysman (ASU) def. Sofia Blanco (OKST) 6-1, 6-0
6. Sasa Klanecek (ASU) def. Shir Hornung (OKST) 6-3, 6-0
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