Cowgirl Tennis Hosts Third-Ranked Gators

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STILLWATER – The 18th-ranked Oklahoma State women's tennis team will face its toughest test of the 2018 season on Wednesday, as it hosts the third-ranked and defending national champion Florida Gators at the Greenwood Tennis Center. The match is set for 5:30 p.m. and admission is free.

Watch and Follow the Matches
Fans can catch all home matches online at okstate.com/watchtennis. Live scoring is available on okstate.statbroadcast.com.

Notable Streaks and Trends
?The Cowgirls have spent 63 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 three seasons.
?Since 2012, OSU has made six-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 39 of their last 40 matches at the Greenwood Tennis Center, dating back to March of 2015.
?OSU has had an ITA Central Region Champion in five-straight seasons. This fall, Vladica Babic swept the event, winning in singles and in doubles with teammate Sofia Blanco.
?The Cowgirls were impressive during the fall, racking up a 39-16 (.709 win pct.) overall mark in singles and a 17-9 (.654) record in doubles.

About the Cowgirls
The Cowgirls enter the 2017-18 season coming off another historic season in which they advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the second-straight year and won their second consecutive Big 12 regular season title.

OSU returns three players from the 2017 campaign in senior Vladica Babic and juniors Sofia Blanco and Katarina Stresnakova. Tasked with replacing one of the most talented senior classes in school history, head coach Chris Young has enlisted the help of East Tennessee State transfer Marina Guinart, who won 10
matches over the course of the fall tournament schedule. Young also brings on senior Megan McCray, who played for OSU her freshman season in 2014, as well as Israeli freshman Shir Hornung.

Including visits from the returning national champion Florida Gators and perennial top-25 program Miami, the Cowgirls will play a home-heavy schedule in 2018 with 15 of their 21 scheduled regular season matches set to be played at the Greenwood Tennis Center. The home schedule is a welcome sight for Young, whose Cowgirls have won 53 of 56 all-time matches at the state-of-the-art facility.

In the offseason, Young also hired on former North Carolina standout Hayley Carter to the Cowgirl staff as an assistant coach. The most decorated player in North Carolina women's tennis history, Carter comes to Stillwater just months after wrapping up a wildly successful collegiate career in which she racked up an ACC record 168 singles victories to go along with four first-team All-ACC selections, two ACC Championship Most Valuable Player selections, and seven All-America honors—four in singles and three in doubles.

The Series
?Wednesday's match with the Gators will be the 11th all-time meeting between the two teams.
?The Cowgirls are looking for their first win in the series, as Florida has taken each of the previous 10 contests.
?Wednesday will be the first time the two programs have met in Stillwater.
?The bout will be a rematch of the 2017 NCAA quarterfinal match between the Cowgirls and Gators, a contest that Florida took, 4-1.
?The Cowgirls and Gators have met up in three of the last four NCAA Tournaments.

Last Time Out
The Oklahoma State women's tennis team snagged its fifth win of the season Sunday afternoon at the Greenwood Tennis Center, dropping Arkansas, 4-2.

The Cowgirls (5-1) more than made up for a slow start in doubles by coming back in singles and taking four straight-set matches to clinch the match over the Razorbacks.

No. 18 Oklahoma State 4, Arkansas 2
Feb. 4, 2018 | Greenwood Tennis Center | Stillwater, Okla.

Doubles | Order of finish: 3,2,1
No. 1: Rice/Oparenovic (ARK) def. Babic/McCray (OSU) 7-5
No. 2: Guinart/Stresnakova (OSU) def. Pairone/Jurasic (ARK) 6-4
No. 3: Jennings/Arakawa (ARK) def. Blanco/Hornung (OSU) 6-4

Singles | Order of finish: 3,2,1,6,4
No. 1: No. 21 Vladica Babic (OSU) def. Ana Oparenovic (ARK) 6-0, 6-4
No. 2: Giulia Pairone (ARK) def. Megan McCray (OSU) 6-2, 6-0
No. 3: Katarina Stresnakova (OSU) def. Mia Jurasic (ARK) 6-1, 6-2
No. 4: No. 63 Marina Guinart (OSU) def. Tatum Rice (ARK) 6-4, 7-6(3)
No. 5: Sofia Blanco (OSU) vs. Natsuho Arakawa (ARK) 3-6, 6-3, 1-1, unf.
No. 6: Shir Hornung (OSU) def. Peyton Jennings (ARK) 6-3, 6-3

Gators from a Distance
The Gators make their way to Stillwater with a 2-1 record on the season. Their lone loss of the season thus far came against Florida State as third-ranked Florida fell, 4-1, on Feb. 3.

Florida's top-ranked player is Anna Danilina, coming in at No. 8 in the country in singles with a 17-4 overall record and a 3-0 mark in duals. Danilina is one of three Gators to appear in the ITA singles top 40, with the other two being Josie Kuhlman (No. 30) and Brooke Austin (No. 37).

Amassing over 400 wins in Gainesville, head coach Roland Thorngvist is in his 17th season at the helm of the Florida program.

Babic's Record Watch
?With 96 doubles wins to her credit, senior Vladica Babic has a chance this season to become the eighth player in school history to reach 100 doubles wins for her career.
?She currently sits in eighth on the all-time doubles wins list and second in the Big 12 era--just seven wins behind Linda Faltynkova.
?With 85 career singles wins, she currently sits in fourth in the Big 12 era record book in that category.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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