No. 44 OU Starts Season with Victory

Jan. 19, 2013

NORMAN, Okla. – The No. 44 University of Oklahoma women's tennis team (1-0) won its spring opener defeating Wichita State (0-1), 5-2, Saturday at the Headington Family Tennis Center.

“We definitely started slow in doubles and we started slow on courts two, four, and six,” OU head coach David Mullins said. “It was interesting to see how we responded in our first match of the year against a pretty tough opponent without our number one player and I thought we responded magnificently.”

The Sooners won the doubles point against the Shockers with wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions.

At the No. 3 doubles position, Zita Engbrooks and Hermon Brhane defeated Montse Blasco Fernandez and Satjaporn Mahajaroenkul, 8-3.

Down 6-7, the pair of junior Mia Lancaster and sophomore Abbi Melrose surged back to tie and win 8-7, clinching OU's first point.

“We're kind of a scrappy bunch,” Mullins said. “We need to play a lot of long points and we don't get a lot of easy points. I'm expecting a lot of matches to be that way.”

OU collected four points in singles play, beginning with a solid performance by Engbrooks. The freshman defeated Carla Venticinque at the No. 5 position, 6-1, 6-2.

Brhane sealed a 6-4 first set and the second set, 6-0.

Lancaster clinched the victory for the Sooners by defeating Mahajaroenkul, 6-1, 6-3.

Oklahoma travels to Miami, Fla., where they'll meet Arizona State, Miami, and Hawai'i on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25-26.

Oklahoma 5, Wichita State 2

Doubles

Blaskova/Kovalova (WSU) def. Wofford/Devine (OU), 8-2
Lancaster/Melrose (OU) def. Venticinque/Pedrazzi (WSU), 8-7
Engbrooks/Brhane (OU) def. Blasco Fernandez/Mahajaroenkul (WSU), 8-3

Order of finish: 1, 3, 2

Singles

Hermon Brhane (OU) def. Lucia Kovalova (WSU), 6-4, 6-0
Rebecca Pedrazzi (WSU) def. Whitney Wofford (OU), 6-2, 2-6, 7-5
Mia Lancaster (OU) def. Satjaporn Mahajaroenkul (WSU), 6-1, 6-3
Veronika Blaskova (WSU) def. Abbi Melrose (OU), 6-1, 7-6
Zita Engbrooks (OU) def. Carla Venticinque (WSU), 6-1, 6-2
Emma Devine (OU) def. Montse Blasco Fernandez (WSU), 6-4, 7-6

Order of finish: 5, 1, 3, 4, 6, 2

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Hermon Brhane

Emma Devine

Mia Lancaster

Abbi Melrose

Whitney Wofford

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics