The Corley Sisters

In professional tennis, sibling duos have dominated the doubles scene for generations: John and Patrick McEnroe; Andy and Jamie Murray; Mike and Bob, better known as "The Bryan Brothers"; and Venus and Serena Williams are siblings who became household names.

It might have only seemed natural, then, that two sisters who started playing tennis together at a young age might have paired up from the beginning, too. But for Carmen and Ivana Corley, that wasn't exactly the case – their two-year age gap rarely allowed them to play together on the junior tennis circuit, which is organized into levels based on their ages.

It wasn't until Carmen, the younger of the two sisters, joined Ivana at OU in January of 2020 that they really got to establish themselves as a doubles team, and the rest is history – quite literally. The Corley sisters have carved their names into the OU record books and proven themselves as on of the premiere duos in the nation as they ready for the 2021 NCAA Doubles Championships, set to begin Monday.

Ivana was seven years old when she first picked up a tennis racket, and five-year-old Carmen followed suit. The two had tried a variety of sports but hadn't found one that stuck, and the girls' mother, Maria, told them that if they wanted to play tennis, they had to commit to playing for three months at minimum.

So off to tennis they went. It was the middle of summer in their hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the desert sun beat down relentlessly as they took their first lessons.

"I remember Carmen and I coming home crying because it was just so hot," said Ivana. "But we stuck with it. We played for three months and never really stopped."

And although the two years between them kept them from playing tournaments together, the sisters trained together through the entirety of their junior careers.

Corleys 2 — Carmen and Ivana pushed their winning streak to 20 matches as they captured three titles in the fall of 2020.

Ivana came to OU in the fall of 2018, and quickly racked up singles and doubles wins during the tournament slate. She compiled a 12-4 doubles record with Jasmine Asghar and the two made a run to the final at the prestigious Milwaukee Tennis Classic. When Ivana's first dual match season rolled around in January 2019, she appeared at the top spot in the doubles lineup alongside Asghar.

At the same time, Carmen was home in Albuquerque and beginning to receive calls from tennis coaches around the country. Many assumed she'd go to OU to follow Ivana.

"I didn't want to just choose OU because Ivana was here. I really looked at other schools and eventually made a pros and cons list and OU was the school."
-- Carmen Corley

"The first thing they would say was, 'are you going to go to OU or not?'" remembered the younger sister. "I didn't want to just choose OU because Ivana was here. I really looked at other schools and eventually made a pros and cons list and OU was the school."

"We always kind of thought it would be so cool if we could play together."

Carmen committed to the Sooners and arrived in Norman in January 2020 and hit the ground running. And after years of training together but playing apart, Carmen and Ivana finally got their wish when the Sooners opened the season: head coach Audra Cohen paired them up in doubles at the No. 1 line.

They blazed through the competition match after match, posting a perfect 10-0 record before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When they were finally able to return to campus in August 2020 for fall tournaments, they picked up right where they left off. Carmen and Ivana secured three doubles titles in the fall, including the ITA Central Region Doubles championship. They pushed their winning streak to 20 matches before suffering their first – and only – loss in 2020.

Then came spring dual matches.

Carmen and Ivana compiled a 17-2 doubles record at the No. 1 line, including a 6-0 mark against ranked opponents. They took out the No. 17, 22, 30, 45, 50, and 55 teams in the nation as they helped the Sooners secure 19 doubles points in 22 matches.

And that wasn't all. The sisters entered the ITA doubles rankings for the very first time on March 24 at No. 19 nationally, and on March 30, rose to No. 11 to become the highest-ranked doubles team in program history. At the end of the season, they were tabbed to the Big 12 doubles first team.

They enjoyed success on the doubles court, but the Corleys thrived in singles as well as OU saw an historic season as a program.

Carmen played at the No. 1 spot and Ivana was a fixture on court three, and thanks to the set up of the Headington Family Tennis Center, where the odd number courts are on one side of the facility and the even on the opposite side, the sisters got to play their matches next to each other.

Ivana hugs Carmen after Carmen clinches OU's win over #16 UCF on April 4.

Perhaps their most memorable moments came in back-to-back matches on April 2 and 4. The Sooners faced Oklahoma State in the first match of the weekend. The Corleys grabbed a dominant, 6-1 victory over the No. 55 pair in the country before Ivana got another ranked singles win to secure OU's first win over the Cowgirls since 2014 as a 4-0 sweep. When the last point fell, Carmen was the first player to rush Ivana's court.

Two days later, the Sooners played No. 16 UCF. Carmen and Ivana clinched the doubles point with another win over a ranked opponent, this time the No. 30 pair. It was Carmen who sealed that win for OU as she battled past the No. 38 player in the nation 7-5, 6-4. And when the last point fell, Ivana was the first player to rush Carmen's court.

With a 17-2 record and ranked No. 18 in the nation at the end of the season, Carmen and Ivana were a lock for the NCAA doubles tournament. They earned an automatic bid by virtue of being the highest-ranked team in the Big 12 conference at the time of selection.

Before they play a match at the NCAA tournament, the Corley sisters have earned a place in OU history. By reaching a season- and career-high No. 11 ranking on March 30, they became the program's highest-ranked doubles team ever. They became the seventh OU pair to earn a bid to the tournament and the first to do so under Cohen.

Perhaps most impressively, their .895 (17-2) single-season win percentage ranks second in program history.

And to think – they've only played together for one complete season.

The sister attribute their success as a pair to the strong doubles fundamentals they honed as junior players.

"We practiced a lot together and grew up on the same doubles fundamentals," said Ivana.

"I think the fun part about it is that we proved ourselves with other people and proved our ability and then we were able to come together in college," Carmen said.

But beyond that, they understand each other's games, and their styles are complementary.

"We're Yin and Yang. That explains us perfectly. We balance each other out and we really hold each other accountable."
-- Ivana Corley

"We're Yin and Yang. That explains us perfectly," said Ivana. "We balance each other out and we really hold each other accountable."

The Corleys are just getting started.

"I look back to more than a year ago and I thought we were really strong then. And I look at us now and I'm like, 'wow, we've improved so much' and that's really fun to see," said Ivana. It's not every day you can not only do that and improve so much and be successful, but do it with your sister."

"It means more to not want to let her down," said Carmen. "We're ready for the moment we've been working for. Now it's just our time to live a bit of our dream."

Carmen and Ivana Corley begin the NCAA Doubles Championships Monday at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. Draws will be announced at a later time.