Sooners Travel to Pacific Northwest

NORMAN, Okla. – After a week off to regroup following a three match weekend, the Oklahoma women's tennis team will travel to Eugene, Ore., for matches against the University of Portland and the University of Oregon Feb. 7-8.

The 34^th-ranked Sooners come off of a bye week looking to bounce back from their first loss of the season against Arkansas last Sunday.

“I scheduled this trip a couple of years back understanding that I was going to have a very young team and wanted to play as far away from home as possible,” said OU head coach David Mullins.

The Sooners' first opponent, Portland, has two singles players in the initial ITA individual rankings. Sophomore Lucia Butskova (No. 60) won at both No.1 singles and No. 1 doubles against UC Davis, as did junior Maja Mladenovic (No. 104).

“Their top two players are very good and capable of playing with anybody in the country,” said Mullins. “Our top two players have similar world rankings and things like that as those two girls coming in so I think we will match up okay there.”

For Oregon, sophomore Marlou Kluiving has been consistent throughout the 2014-15 year. She has compiled an 8-2 record in tournament play and won both of her dual matches at the No. 4 singles position. The doubles team of freshmen Nia Rose and Alyssa Tobita have won both of their doubles matches and earned a 12-4 tournament record in the fall.

Leading the way for Oklahoma thus far is freshman Lily Miyazaki, compiling a 4-0 record at No. 1 singles. Freshmen Simran Sethi (3-1 at No. 2 singles) and Christiana Brigante (2-0 at No. 5 singles, 1-1 at No. 6) have also been major contributors early in the season.

“They're way ahead of schedule,” said Mullins. “They're definitely the most mature group of freshmen I have ever had.”

The Opponents

Portland: 1-0 (6-11, 2-7 2014)

Conference: West Coast

Series Record: 1-0 (Only Meeting: 2000)

ITA Ranking: N/A

Ranked Players: No. 60 Lucia Butkovska, No. 104 Maja Mladenovic

Oregon: 1-1 (7-15, 1-9 2014)

Conference: PAC 12

Series Record: 1-0 (Only Meeting: 2011)

ITA Ranking: N/A

Ranked Players: N/A

Looking Ahead

The Sooners host their first home matches in nearly a month against Wichita State University and the University of Tulsa Feb. 14-15. Both matches will be played at noon as part of a back-to-back weekend.