OU Women's Tennis ITA Kickoff Weekend: 3 PM Sat vs Minnesota

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OUBeliever56A
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OU Women's Tennis ITA Kickoff Weekend: 3 PM Sat vs Minnesota

Post by OUBeliever56A »

In part, due to their 2022 Season where Sooners were national runner-ups, the Sooners will host Minnesota at 3 PM in the ITA Kickoff Event at Headington Family Tennis Center on th west side of the Lloyd Noble Center grounds. Oklahoma is ranked #17 this week after a tough weekend on the road against Michigan (#16) and Ohio State (#12) of the Big 10.

This weekend OU plays Minnesota (UNR) in the first round of the ITA Weekend with four teams participating. The other two teams are [EDIT: Tennessee (#22) This should have been Texas Tech RV ranked) EDIT] and Tulsa. They will also play on Saturday in their first round match. The two winners will play on Sunday for a berth later in the season in the ITA Indoor Championships in February.

Here is the staff writers article about the weekend at Headington.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/1/27 ... am-history

I hope the Women's Tennis team bounces back from last weekend on the road and play well this weekend to earn that berth to the ITA Indoor Championships.

Boomer Sooner!
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Post by OUBeliever56A »

The Oklahoma Sooners Women's Tennis Team won their first match over Minnesota in their opening match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend. Unfortunately, the Minnesota team played a woman-short as they only were able to have 5 players take the court. (I wonder how that happens?).

Oklahoma had an automatic 2-0 lead due to the short Minnesota squad. Needing only to win one doubles and one singles match, The Sooners quickly disposed of the Gophers and won their match 4-0. The win moved the Sooners into the finals today against Texas Tech. Texas Tech defeated Tulsa 4-2 to reach the finals. The final match of the weekend at the Headington Family Tennis Center is today at 2 PM.

Here is the staff writers article about the Sooners' win over Minnesota.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/1/28 ... ampionship

Good luck to the Women today in the finals. The winner of the match will qualify for the ITA National Indoor Championships in a couple of weeks.

Boomer Sooner!
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Post by OUBeliever56A »

The Oklahoma Sooners Women's Tennis ticket won handily over Texas Tech on Sunday afternoon to secure a berth in the ITA Indoor Championships in Seattle, WA on February 10th and 12th. The Sooners defeated Tech 4-0.

Here is the staff writers article about the victory over Texas Tech.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/1/29 ... al-indoors

It was my first time inside the Headington Family Tennis Center to watch the Women play. It was long overdue I would say even to myself. I planned to go earlier but could not get there. I was very happy I attended yesterday. It seems that there is a solid group of fans that support the Tennis program very well. The gallery seating above the 6 courts allow for good viewing of 3 matches being played at a time and if you are willing to walk about 15 feet, you can actually keep up with all six matches when the singles are played.

Yesterday I watched the 3 doubles matches with interest. I expected the Corley sisters, Ivana and Carmen to be very good. And they were. They easily moved through the Texas Texas double team playing in the #1 spot 6-0 in the single set match. I thought that the dominance by the Corley sisters started with their serves. They executed their shots well following the serve game as well. Layne Sleeth and Alexandra Pisereva played in the #2 double slot for Oklahoma. They were on the other end of the facility from me, so I did not get to watch them as much, but the points were longer and more competitive in this match. The match was tied at 4-all when OU won their second match to win the doubles. In the third doubles match, Julia Garcia Ruiz and Dana Guzman was in the 3rd spot for the Sooners. They won their match 6-3 by winning the last 3 games, if I remember correctly. They played a very strategic match with timely shots down the outside lanes and continuing points until Tech players made errors. I enjoyed their match as well. The Sooners won the doubles point with their two wins on Court #1 and #3.

In the Singles, Sleeth played #1 with Guzman playing #3 and Garcia Ruiz playing #5 on my side of the play. Sleeth plays a strong serve and powerful ground strokes game. The Texas Tech player was also a strong player. Sleeth won the first set 6-2 and was leading 5-0 when play was stopped due to OU winning their 4th point. Sleeth was impressive. I could not see everything, but on the far court, Guzman plays a very sensible game to me. She is the type of player than just keeps hitting the ball back in good position. She probably has few weaknesses. She was the first player to win her match at 6-1 and 6-1. I think she is a very smart and consistent player who can play most players well. Garcia Ruiz also plays a smart game with many different shots and spins. She just seems to be in control without hitting the ball with great force. She was ahead 6-3 and 4-3 when the when the match ended.

On the other side, Carmen Corley playing in the #2 slot, ran off to a 6-2 first set victory. Tech rallied back to lead 5-0 in the second set before Corley won two game in a row to make the 2nd set 2-5 when the play was ended with OU winning their 2nd and 3rd matches in singles.Emma Straker, playing in the #4 slot, and Alexandra Pisareva, in the 6th slot, supplied those two victories. Straker and Pisareva won their matches at almost the same time. Straker won 6-3 and 6-1. Pisareva won 6-2 and 6-0. I should have tried to watch Straker more yesterday as she did not play doubles. She did look to be in control in the last couple games I watched. Pisareva looked strong in her singles match in the last couple of games I watched at the end.

On Sunday against Texas Tech, the Sooners won or were ahead in every set but two as play ended. On Friday, against Minnesota, the same trend was true as OU only trailed in one set when play ended with the rest of the sets being won or with the Sooners ahead.

The 'small' crowd was enthusiastic during the match and supported of the Sooners well. I enjoyed my time spent watching the women play on Sunday. I will definitely try to make it back but as Softball season starts, that will be my priority to watch.

The Sooner women will be in Raleigh, NC to face North Carolina State on February 4th at 11 AM.

Good luck to the Sooners as they play their last match until the ITA Nartional Indoors the next weekend.

Boomer Sooner!
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