Cowgirls Stifle Rebels, Advance to ITA Indoors Quarterfinals

Friday, February 10

New Haven, CT

8 A.M.

Oklahoma State University

Ole Miss

Photo by: Bruce Waterfield

Cowgirls Stifle Rebels, Advance to ITA Indoors Quarterfinals

February 10, 2017 | Cowgirl Tennis

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The third-seeded and fifth-ranked Oklahoma State women's tennis team defeated No. 19 Ole Miss, 4-0, Friday morning to advance to the quarterfinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Indoor Championships for the first time in school history. The Cowgirls will face sixth-seeded and seventh-ranked Ohio State on Saturday for a trip to the semifinals.

"This was a really good college match between two excellent teams," head coach Chris Young said. "This is exactly what we needed at this point in the season and I'm happy with how we competed throughout the lineup. We know each match here will be tough, so we look forward to another great match against Ohio State tomorrow."

The Cowgirls (7-0) once again asserted their dominance in doubles, picking up their seventh doubles point of the season in as many matches with wins on the top two doubles courts.

The fifth-ranked OSU tandem of Vladica Babic and Carla Tur Mari handled No. 33 Arianne Hartono and Anna Vrbenska, 6-2, to start things off for the Cowgirls on No. 1. Young guns Aliona Bolsova and Sofia Blanco clinched the point, defeating Natalie Suk and Alexa Bortles, 6-3. The win marked the duo's fourth clincher of the season.

On court three, after finding themselves in a 3-0 hole to open the match, seniors Katarina Adamovic and Viktoriya Lushkova battled back to win five-straight games and put themselves in position to finish the comeback before the match was suspended.

In singles, the Cowgirls quickly picked up a couple of straight-set victories from seniors Adamovic and Tur Mari to push their lead to 3-0 and put the Rebels' backs against the wall.

Adamovic was the first to strike, dropping Natalie Suk, 6-3, 6-3, at No. 2 to move to 4-0 in dual play. The Cowgirl has yet to lose a set during the dual season, taking all four matches thus far in straight-sets.

After taking the first set in a 7-1 tiebreaker over Mississippi's Tea Jandric in the fifth singles spot, Tur Mari opened the second facing a 3-0 deficit. The senior didn't lose her poise, and took the next six games to close out the match and improve her perfect dual record to 4-0.

The Rebels wouldn't go away quietly, as they forced third sets in the other four singles matches; however, the Cowgirls would ultimately finish off the win, thanks to a strong performance from their two-time All-American Viktoriya Lushkova.

Facing No. 58 Hartono, Lushkova bounced back from a disappointing, 6-4, first-set loss to take 12 of the match's final 15 games for the triumph at No. 1. With the win, the Cowgirl improved to 14-4 overall on the season and 4-0 in dual play. The win was also Lushkova's third clincher in the Cowgirl's last four matches.

In the remaining matches, Vladica Babic and Lena Ruppert held leads in the third set before play was suspended. Freshman Aliona Bolsova trailed Zalina Kairudinova in the third set on court four.

Match times for Saturday's quarterfinals are set to be released Friday afternoon. Check back on okstate.com or follow @CowgirlTennis on Twitter for updates.

No. 5 Oklahoma State 4, No. 19 Ole Miss 0
Feb. 10, 2017 | Culman-Heyman Tennis Center | New Haven, Conn.

Doubles | Order of finish: 1, 2
No. 1: No. 5 Babic/Tur Mari (OSU) def. No. 33 Hartono/Vrbenska (MISS) 6-2
No. 2: Bolsova/Blanco (OSU) def. Suk/Bortles (MISS) 6-3
No. 3: Adamovic/Lushkova (OSU) vs. Jandric/Khairundinova (MISS) 5-3, unf.

Singles | Order of finish: 2, 5, 1
No. 1: No. 10 Viktoriya Lushkova (OSU) def. No. 58 Arianne Hartono (MISS) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
No. 2: No. 56 Katarina Adamovic (OSU) def. Natalie Suk (MISS) 6-3, 6-3
No. 3: No. 33 Vladica Babic (OSU) vs. Anna Vrbenska (MISS) 6-4, 4-6, 4-3
No. 4: Aliona Bolsova (OSU) vs. Zalina Khairudinova (MISS) 3-6, 7-5, 1-4
No. 5: No. 42 Carla Tur Mari (OSU) def. Tea Jandric (MISS) 7-6(1), 6-3
No. 6: No. 86 Lena Ruppert (OSU) vs. Alexa Bortles (MISS) 6-7(5), 6-1, 1-0