Sooners Close Out Regular Season in Texas

NORMAN - The No. 20 Oklahoma women's tennis team is set to close out their regular season slate with two matches in Texas this weekend, beginning with No. 34 Baylor on Friday before traveling to face No. 40 TCU on Sunday.

MATCHDAY BASICS

First serve against the Bears is set for 12 p.m. CT on Friday at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas. Fans can keep up with the action through live stats. A live stream will also be available.

Sunday's match against the Horned Frogs is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth, Texas. The contest can be followed through live stats and live video.

LAST TIME OUT

The No. 23 Oklahoma women's tennis team closed out their home slate with a win on Saturday afternoon, defeating No. 26 Texas Tech 4-3 at the Headington Family Tennis Center.

Prior to the match, the Sooners honored their two seniors. Dana Guzman and Florencia Urrutia were recognized for all of their accomplishments while at the University of Oklahoma.

OU opened the match by claiming their 16th doubles point of the season. The Red Raiders struck first on court one as No. 19 Guzman and Roisin Gilheany suffered their first defeat of the season as a pairing to No. 6 Avelina Sayfetdinova and Matka Komac, 2-6. On the second court, No. 71 Julia Garcia Ruiz and Zdena Safarova got the win over Cristina Tiglea and Mariya Polishchuk, 6-3 to get one back.

The final court would go to tiebreakers, as Chloe Noel and Ava Catanzarite clinched the opening point in thrilling fashion at the three spot by defeating Kate Dimitrichenko and Camryn Stepp, 7-6(5).

Grabbing the first singles win on court three, Tech's Sayfetdinova took down No. 97 Alina Shcherbinina 7-6(5), 6-1. Getting one back for the Sooners, Noel secured the 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win at court five against Komac. To tie the score again, Tech's Andreea Lila topped Emma Staker 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 6 spot.

No. 40 Guzman was the next to take the victory, defeating Polishchuk 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 on court two. The senior from Arequipa, Peru, currently sits in the top-five in program history for both singles (77-27) and doubles (85-24) career win percentage.

Clinching for the second time this week, No. 29 Garcia Ruiz delivered OU's 14th win of the season with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over No. 39 Tiglea at the top court. The Big 12's leader in singles wins improved her season dual record to 17-0.

The match played out for the final court (No. 4) to finish which saw Tech's Dmitrichenko take down No. 55 Florencia Urrutia, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.

IN THE RANKINGS

The Sooners (14-5, 9-2 Big 12) currently have four players in the ITA singles rankings. Leading the pack is No. 26 Julia Garcia Ruiz, followed by No. 40 Dana Guzman, No. 59 Florencia Urrutia and No. 104 Alina Shcherbinina.

In doubles, OU is represented by No. 3 Guzman and Shcherbinina, followed by No. 19 Guzman and Roisin Gilheany, and rounded out by No. 51 Garcia Ruiz and Zdena Safarova.

The Bears (16-9, 7-4 Big 12) are also represented in the polls, with No. 118 Misa Kadleckova in singles as well as No. 87 Sierra Berry and Zuzanna Kubacha in doubles.

Representing the Horned Frogs (12-6, 7-4 Big 12) is No. 121 Destinee Martins in singles.

UP NEXT

The Sooners head to Stillwater, Okla., for the Big 12 Tennis Championships April 18-21.