Cowgirls Upset No. 11 Pepperdine In Dramatic Comeback Fashion

Sunday, February 16

Stillwater, OK

12:00 P.M.

Oklahoma State University

Pepperdine

Cowgirls Upset No. 11 Pepperdine In Dramatic Comeback Fashion

February 16, 2020 | Cowgirl Tennis

STILLWATER - The No. 14 Oklahoma State Cowgirl tennis team took down the No. 11 Pepperdine Waves in Stillwater, 4-3. It was the first match Oklahoma State has played outdoors this season.

Pepperdine is the first ranked opponent Oklahoma State has defeated this season, and it all started with the doubles point. No. 7 Lisa Marie Rioux and Ayumi Miyamoto defeated Ashley Lahey and Anastasia Iamachkine on court one, 6-1. The second match to finish was on court three as Dariya Detkovskaya and Catherine Gulihur teamed up to defeat Astrid Olsen and Lisa Zaar, 7-6(4).

"This was a confidence boost because we got put in some tough situations and persevered today," said head coach Chris Young. "I'm just really proud of the girls. I said to them afterwards that this was a true team win. Four girls contributed in doubles, three different girls contributed in singles and it took all seven to win this match."

No. 80 Ayumi Miyamoto lost the first singles match of the day against No. 36 Anastasia Iamachkine on court three, 6-1, 6-2, to give Pepperdine its first point of the match. Oklahoma State fell behind in the match when No. 124 Lisa Zaar defeated Dariya Detkovskaya in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, which put the Waves up 2-1.

Pepperdine would jump out to a 3-1 lead with a win from the top player in the country, Ashley Lahey, as she defeated No. 45 Lisa Marie Rioux, 6-4, 6-3. Freshman Cowgirl Alana Wolfberg won the first singles point of the day for OSU with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Astrid Olsen on court four. No. 28 Bunyawi Thamchaiwat followed quickly behind with a win of her own over No. 37 Jessica Failla, 6-3, 6-1.

The final point would be decided by Lenka Stara on court six as she went up against Daria Kuczer. Stara won the first set with her dominant serve, 6-4. Kuczer would storm back to take the second set in the same fashion, 6-4. The women opted to play out the third set instead of the usual 10-point tiebreaker, which Lenka Stara would win in dominant fashion, 6-0.

"We need to be confident. We don't have to be scared, because everyone knows how to play tennis," said Stara. "We are something special. We had really good energy after doubles, and coached talked to us and gave us some really good supporting words, which was really good."

This is the first win of the season against a ranked opponent for the Cowgirls. OSU now moves to 8-1 on the season with its lone loss coming at the hands of Ohio State. Pepperdine is now .500 on the season with all three of its losses coming against ranked opponents.

The Cowgirls will now take on South Carolina in Columbia, SC on Feb. 23 before they return to Stillwater on March 6 for conference play against Texas Tech.