Tulsa Women’s Tennis Defeats South Florida in a 4-3 Thriller

Sunday, February 28

Tulsa, Okla.

10:00 a.m.

Tulsa

South Florida

Tulsa Women’s Tennis Defeats South Florida in a 4-3 Thriller

2/28/2016 1:59:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: Drake Allen

Tulsa, Okla. – The University of Tulsa women's tennis team defeated conference foe South Florida in a 4-3 thriller at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. The No. 14-ranked Golden Hurricane won all three doubles matches, before battling with the Bulls down to the final singles match to clinch the win.

The Hurricane lengthens its win streak to seven matches improving to 12-1 overall and 2-0 in league play, while South Florida falls to 2-5 overall and 0-1 in league play.

Tulsa moved through doubles play swiftly as Ksenia Laskutova and Renata Kuricova (No. 1) defeated Vera Bessonova and Olga Martinez, 6-2, before Saana Saarteinen and Mahitha Dadireddy (No. 3) defeated Vanja Klaric and Chloe Murphy, 6-3, to clinch the doubles point. Rongrong Leenabanchong and Martha Matoula (No. 2) went on to defeat Juliana Cardoso and Jessi Cortes in a 6-3 decision.

South Florida came out in singles play and tied the match score at 1-1 immediately as Ana Roman (No. 3) defeated Rongrong Leenabanchong. Tulsa bounced back to take a 2-1 match lead as Saana Saarteinen (No. 1) defeated Jessi Cortes in a 6-3, 6-4 decision. Juliana Cardoso (No. 5) defeated TU's Yelena Nemchen in a 5-7, 5-7 decision to tie the match score at 2-2. Ksenia Laskutova (No. 2) defeated USF's Olga Martinez, 6-4, 7-6(4), before Vanja Klaric defeated Marcelina Cichon, 6-4, 4-6, 1-6 to tie the match score at 3-3. With the match point on the line Renata Kuricova (No. 6) defeated Vera Bessonova, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to clinch the 4-3 Tulsa win.

Tulsa 4, South Florida 3
SINGLES
1. Saana Saarteinen (Tulsa) defeated Jessi Cortes (USF), 6-3, 6-4
2. Ksenia Laskutova (Tulsa) defeated Olga Martinez (USF), 6-4, 7-6(4)
3. Ana Roman (USF) defeated Rongrong Leenbanchong (Tulsa), 6-2, 6-2
4. Vanja Klaric (USF) defeated Marcelina Cichon (Tulsa), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
5. Vera Bessonova (USF) defeated Yelena Nemchen (Tulsa), 7-5, 7-5
6. Renata Kuricova (Tulsa) defeated Nicole Dzenga (USF), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

DOUBLES
1. Laskutova/Kuricova (Tulsa) defeated Bessonova/Martinez (USF), 6-2
2. Leenabanchong/Matoula (Tulsa) vs. Cardoso/Cortes(USF), DNF 4-3
3. Saarteinen/Dadireddy (Tulsa) defeated Klaric/Murphy (USF), 6-3

Records: Tulsa 12-1, South Florida 2-5

For all Tulsa women's tennis news and information, visit www.TulsaHurricane.com. Follow Tulsa Athletics on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TulsaHurricane and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TulsaHurricane. Follow Tulsa Women's Tennis on Twitter (http://twitter.com/TulsaWTennis) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/TulsaWTennis).

The University of Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center is host site for the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Tennis Championships, May 19-30