Cowgirl Tennis Holds Off Horned Frogs

Friday, April 13

Stillwater, OK

5:30 PM

Oklahoma State University

TCU

Photo by: Bruce Waterfield

April 13, 2018 | Cowgirl Tennis

STILLWATER – The 11^th-ranked Oklahoma State women's tennis team won its fourth-straight match Friday evening at the Greenwood Tennis Center, dropping conference foe TCU in a 4-3 thriller.

"We knew the doubles point was going to be important," head coach Chris Young said. "I told people all week that this was going to be a tough match…There are so many good teams in this league, and TCU is well-deserving of being a tournament team. They're right on the bubble of that. They challenged us, but the top three came through (in singles). I'd put the top of our lineup against anybody."

The Cowgirls (16-2, 5-1 Big 12) opened the match by taking the doubles point with wins in the top two doubles spots. After TCU tallied a 6-2 decision on court three, the Pokes responded with a 6-2 victory from Vladica Babic and Sofia Blanco on court one. It marked the OSU tandem's eighth-straight win and pushed their record this season to 22-7.

Marina Guinart and Katarina Stresnakova clinched the point for the Cowgirls with a 6-4 win over Marie Norris and Elizabeth Tedford on court two. It was their 10^th dual triumph of the season and third in the last four matches.

In singles, it went down to the wire as the Horned Frogs tallied wins on three courts; however, the Cowgirls were able to battle through a strong performance from TCU and pick up three wins of their own on the way to clinching their fourth-straight win.

After TCU got on the board with a win over Saralyn Dyer at No. 6, Katarina Stresnakova put the Cowgirls back in the driver's seat as she dropped No. 92 Aleksandra Zenovska in straight sets on court three. It was the junior's 13^th win in 14 matches this spring, pushing her team-leading overall win total to 24.

Babic stretched the OSU lead to 3-1 with a 6-2, 6-4 tally over Aleksa Cveticanin in the top singles position. Babic is 11-3 in dual action for her senior year and 23-6 overall, winning four-straight matches and seven of her last eight.

TCU would even the score at three apiece shortly after, scoring wins over Guinart and Blanco on courts four and five, respectively. Guinart's loss was her first of the spring campaign.

"For Marina to go this long in the season without losing (is impressive)," Young said. "The good news is we won without some of the points we typically get and she is one of those."

The match came down to court two, where Megan McCray battled back from a tough first set to notch a big, three-set win over Donika Bashota to clinch the team victory. Leading, 3-2, in the second, McCray won six-straight games to take the frame and take a 3-0 lead in the final set that she would not relinquish, turning in a final score of 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

"A couple of us didn't get off to good starts or play as well as we normally do today," McCray said. "Coach was telling me how good I play when I get my energy up, so I was jumping up and down and (energizing myself) so I could get the win, and I did that. That always works for me."

"The great thing about Megan is that she has grown so much in our program," Young said. "When she was here before a lot of people would lift the ball against her and hit heavy balls and she would kind of panic. Now she's staying steady and seeing that kind of game style now all semester. I'm really proud of her for that.

"It wasn't our best performance today, but it was just another example of our team just finding a way to win."

The Cowgirls will be back in action on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. against No. 13 Texas Tech. It will be Senior Day for Babic and McCray, who will be competing in their final regular season match at the Greenwood Tennis Center. Payne County Youth Services will host "Ribs & Raquets" following the match, which is a BBQ cookoff that will be held in Lot 99C.

No. 11 Oklahoma State 4, TCU 3
April 13, 2018 | Greenwood Tennis Center | Stillwater, Okla.

Doubles | Order of finish: 3,1,2
1. #10 Vladica Babic/Sofia Blanco (OKST) def. Donika Bashota/Alexis Pereira (TCU) 6-2
2. Marina Guinart/Katarina Stresnakova (OKST) def. Marie Norris/Elizabeth Tedford (TCU) 6-4
3. Aleksa Cveticanin/Aleksandra Zenovka (TCU) def. Megan McCray/Sami Court (OKST) 6-2

Singles | Order of finish: 6,3,1,4,5,2
1. #23 Vladica Babic (OKST) def. Aleksa Cveticanin (TCU) 6-2, 6-4
2. #34 Megan McCray (OKST) def. Donika Bashota (TCU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
3. #102 Katarina Stresnakova (OKST) def. #92 Aleksandra Zenovka (TCU) 6-2, 6-1
4. Marie Norris (TCU) def. Marina Guinart (OKST) 6-4, 6-2
5. Stevie Kennedy (TCU) def. Sofia Blanco (OKST) 7-5, 6-3
6. Alexis Pereira (TCU) def. Saralyn Dyer (OKST) 6-0, 6-0