Sooners Fall to Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The 24^th-ranked Oklahoma women's tennis team dropped a 4-3 decision to 58^th-ranked University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark., Sunday. It was the Sooners first loss of the 2015 season and their record now stands at 3-1.

The Sooners got out to a fast start with the help of three freshmen to capture the doubles point. The freshmen duo of Lily Miyazaki and Simran Sethi defeated Nastassia Rubel and Makenzie Craft 6-3.

Freshman Christiana Brigante and junior Zita Engbroks clinched the doubles point by defeating Yang Pang and Sasha Shkorupeieva 6-4.

“Our doubles looks better with each outing,” said OU head coach David Mullins. “We are returning really well and staying aggressive at all times, so we just need to continue to do those things despite the score.”

In singles play, Miyazaki cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Yang Pang at the No. 1 position. The freshman is now 4-0 at No. 1 singles on the year after a strong showing in the fall.

Freshman Malene Stripp improved to 2-0 on the year in singles play by defeating Mia Jurasic 6-3, 6-4 in the No. 6 singles position.

The Sooners won two of the first three singles matches but Arkansas had a strong finish, winning the final three matches to clinch.

“Ultimately, we needed to play better at the end of a few second set situations and we probably should have forced the last three matches on court to a third set,” said Mullins. “We are still learning and will be a better team long term due to the loss today.”

Oklahoma returns to play Feb.7-8 in Eugene, Ore., where they will face the Portland Pilots and Oregon Ducks.

Results

Doubles:

No. 1: Devine/Chumney (OU) def. Lysa/Hudson (UCSB) 6-5

No. 2: Miyazaki/Sethi (OU) def. Rubel/Craft (ARK) 6-3

No. 3: Engbroks/Brigante (OU) def. Pang/Shkorupeieva (ARK) 6-4

Order of Finish: 2, 3

Singles

No. 1: Lily Miyazaki (OU) def. Yang Pang (ARK) 6-1, 6-1

No. 2: Shannon Hudson (ARK) def. Simran Sethi (OU) 6-3, 6-0

No. 3: Makenzie Craft (ARK) def. Morgan Chumney (OU) 7-5, 7-5

No. 4: Yuliya Lysa (ARK) def. Zita Engbroks (OU) 6-3, 7-5

No. 5: Sasha Shkorupeieva (ARK) def. Christiana Brigante (OU) 6-1, 7-5

No. 6: Malene Stripp (OU) def. Mia Jurasic (ARK) 6-3, 6-4

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

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Players Mentioned

Christiana Brigante

Zita Engbroks

Lily Miyazaki

Malene Stripp

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics