Sooners Earn Gritty Win Over Tulsa

NORMAN, Okla. – The 36^th-ranked Oklahoma women's tennis team won its fourth match in a row Sunday, defeating 32^nd-ranked Tulsa inside the Gregg Wadley Indoor Tennis Pavilion at the Headington Family Tennis Center. It was the Sooners second win over a top-40 opponent in as many days.

The Sooners started slow and lost just their second doubles point of the season, but stormed back from a 2-0 deficit in singles play to sweep the remaining matches.

“I could not be prouder,” said OU head coach David Mullins. “Overall, it was a huge weekend for us and two big wins for us that we need going into conference play and that we needed to show the progress of this team.”

Sophomore Morgan Chumney bounced back from a first set loss to clinch the match for Oklahoma, defeating 100^th-ranked Rongrong Leenabanchong 4-6, 7-6, 6-3. Chumney also came back from a 5-2 deficit in the second set tiebreaker.

Junior Zita Engbroks provided the comeback of the day after a 6-0 first set loss to defeat Mahitha Dadireddy 0-6, 6-2, 7-5. With the win, she improved to 7-1 in singles play for the season at positions ranging from No. 3 to No. 6. Today, she played at No. 6.

“I felt confident that Zita was going to get that done,” said Mullins. “When a good player loses a set 6-0 like that we don't pay too much attention to it. I knew it was going to be a long match whether we won in three sets or lost in three sets.”

Freshman Lily Miyazaki continued her dominance at No. 1 singles, defeating Ksenia Laskutova 6-2, 6-2 to improve to 7-1 on the season. Freshman Simran Sethi won her third match in a row, defeating Yelena Nemchen 7-6, 4-6, 4-3(8) in a match that ended early via tiebreaker. Sethi improved to 5-2 at the No. 2 singles position.

Results

Singles
1. Lily Miyazaki (OU) def. Ksenia Laskutova (TU) 6-2, 6-2
2. Simran Sethi (OU) def. Yelena Nemchen (TU) 7-6, 4-6, 4-3(8)
3. Morgan Chumney (OU) def. Rongrong Leenabanchong (TU) 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-3
4. Abbi Melrose (OU) def. Saana Saarteinen (TU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-2
5. Marcelina Cichon (TU) def. Christiana Brigante (OU) 6-1, 6-0
6. Zita Engbroks (OU) def. Mahitha Dadireddy (TU) 0-6, 6-2, 7-5

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

Doubles
1. Kuricova/Laskutova (TU) led Chumney/Devine (OU) 6-5
2. Cichon/Leenabanchong (TU) def. Miyazaki/Sethi (OU) 6-1
3. Dadireddy/Saarteinen (TU) def. Brigante/Engbroks (OU) 6-4

Order of Finish:
2, 3*

Up Next

The Sooners travel to the Hawkeye State next weekend to take on the University of Iowa (Feb. 20) and open up Big 12 Conference play with Iowa State (Feb. 22).