WICHITA, Kan. ? The No. 34 WSU women's tennis team notched its first win in its home opener Friday, defeating the Oklahoma Sooners 5-2 at Crestview Country Club. The win marked just the third victory by WSU over Oklahoma, the last one coming April 9, 1982 when the Shockers defeated OU 6-3 in Norman. The Shockers last beat Oklahoma in Wichita on October 16, 1980.
The Shockers took two of three doubles matches from the Sooners to win the doubles point, and raced to a 3-0 lead with singles wins by
Anna Egorova and
Lenore Lazaroiu. Egorova defeated Maria Kalashnikova in the No. 2 singles match 6-2, 6-2; while Lazaroiu downed Elena Antakova in a 6-4, 6-4 decision.
Slowly but surely the Sooners climbed back. Oklahoma claimed the No. 1 singles point in the highlight match of the night as No. 33 Ana-Maria Constantinescu defeated No. 77
Stephanie Dalmacio 6-4, 6-4. A Sooner win in the No. 3 match brought OU to within a point of WSU at 3-2 when Chelsea Orr defeated WSU's
Torrie Browning 6-3, 6-5.
Freshman Laryssa Ferreira sealed the victory for WSU in the No. 6 match, defeating Tara Eckel 6-4, 6-2 and giving the Shockers the decisive fourth point. In the No. 5 singles match,
Florentina Hanisch gave WSU an insurance point by taking a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 decision against Christi Baxley.
“I'm very proud of our girls and the effort we gave tonight,” said Director of Tennis Chris Young. “This was the best match for us so far, and we beat a quality team in Oklahoma. This is a good team win for us and should give us some confidence going into our next match at Miami next weekend.”
With the win, the Shockers improve to 1-2 on the season while the Sooners fall to 4-2. Next up for WSU is a Feb. 24 trip to the Sunshine State where they will face the Miami Hurricanes in a re-match of last year's second round NCAA Regional. First serve in Miami is slated for Noon.
Wichita State 5, Oklahoma 2Feb. 15, 2008 ? Crestview Country Club
SINGLES
1. #33 Ana-Maria Constantinescu (OU) def. #77
Stephanie Dalmacio (WSU), 6-4, 6-4
2.
Anna Egorova (WSU) def. Maria Kalashnikova (OU), 6-2, 6-2.
3. Chelsea Orr (OU) def.
Torrie Browning (WSU), 6-3, 6-5
4.
Lenore Lazaroiu (WSU) def. Elena Antakova (OU), 6-4, 6-4
5.
Florentina Hanisch (WSU) def. Christi Baxley (OU), 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
6. Laryssa Ferreira (WSU) def. Tara Eckel (OU), 6-4, 6-2
(Order of Finish: 2, 4, 3, 1, 6, 5)
DOUBLES
1. Orr/Constantinescu (OU) def. Egorova/Lazaroiu (WSU), 8-1
2. Dalmacio/Ferreira (WSU) def. Antakova/Cox (OU), 8-2
3. Browning/Hanisch (WSU) def. Baxley/Eckel (OU), 8-5
(Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3)
--Wichita State--