Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Utah
Cowgirl Tennis Upsets Utah
February 08, 2010 | Cowgirl Tennis
Feb. 8, 2010
TULSA, Okla. – The Oklahoma State women's tennis team improved to 3-1 Monday, winning a close dual match against Utah, 4-3, at the DeBois Tennis Center.
"This was a great win for our program to beat a nationally-ranked Utah team,” coach Chris Young said. “It was a great college match."
The Utes, ranked No. 61 in the ITA team rankings, got the first point of the day in doubles play, picking up wins at No. 2 and 3.
Oklahoma State, however, took a quick 2-1 lead in singles play as Alisa Buslaieva and Sasha Belova picked up wins over Utah's Erin Monson and Paige Miles at No. 1 and 3, respectively.
After Utah's Lisa Johnson picked up a win at No. 6, Oklahoma State's Sarah Meghoufel won at No. 4 and Utah's Andrea Maughan won in three sets at No. 5, the match was knotted up at 3-3.
Oklahoma State's Nataliya Shatkovskaya and Utah's Evgenia Kryuchkova, facing off at No. 2 singles, were the only athletes left on the court with the winner deciding the outcome.
Shatkovskaya won the first set in a tiebreaker, but trailed 3-5 when the No. 2 match was the only one that remained. She rallied to send the second set to a tiebreaker and fought off five set points, eventually closing out the second set 14-12 in the tiebreaker, clinching the win for Oklahoma State.
"We definitely started off slow in doubles but I was proud of our top team continuing to battle and give us some momentum going into singles,” Young said. “After doubles I challenged the girls to step up and battle. That is exactly what each of them did and our top four players each got a win. I am so proud of everyone for doing what it took today. Nataliya showed great leadership and maturity today by clinching the match. I couldn't have asked for anything else from our girls today and I hope this will lead to even greater things in the future."
The Cowgirls return to competition on Feb. 13 and 14, when they travel to Dallas, Texas, to face Tulane and Southern Methodist, respectively.
Oklahoma State 4, Utah 3
DOUBLES
No. 1 - Nataliya Shatkovskaya/Sasha Belova (OSU) def. Erin Monson/Andrea Maughan (UT) 8-5
No. 2 - Evgenia Kryuchkova/Lisa Johnson (UT) def. Sarah Meghoufel/Malika Rose (OSU) 8-2
No. 3 - Missy Harris/Paige Miles (UT) def. Alisa Buslaieva/Leyla Simmons (OSU) 8-1
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
SINGLES
No. 1 - Alisa Buslaieva (OSU) def. Erin Monson (UT) 6-3, 6-0
No. 2 - Nataliya Shatkovskaya (OSU) def. Evgenia Kryuchkova (UT), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (12)
No. 3 - Sasha Belova (OSU) def. Paige Miles (UT), 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-0
No. 4 - Sarah Meghoufel (OSU) def. Missy Harris (UT), 6-1, 7-6(4)
No. 5 - Andrea Maughan (UT) def. Malika Rose (OSU), 6-0, 1-6, 6-4
No. 6 - Lisa Johnson (UT) def. Alexandra Cristello (OSU), 7-5, 6-4
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 6, 4, 5, 2
Players Mentioned
