TU Heads To Stillwater For OSU Tilt
3/26/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 26, 2012
TULSA, Okla. - The No. 29-ranked University of Tulsa women's tennis team (12-3) will travel to Stillwater, Okla., for a 2 p.m. meeting March 27 with No. 41 Oklahoma State (10-3) at DeBois Tennis Complex. The Golden Hurricane is coming off a weekend sweep of No. 50 LSU and SMU March 14 and 16.
SCOUTING THE COWGIRLS
OSU is 10-3 on the season with wins coming over No. 40 Princeton, No. 71 Missouri, K-State, Kansas, Auburn, Iowa, Iowa State, Wichita State, Oral Roberts and UMKC. All three losses have come to ranked opponents (No. 20 Alabama, No. 32 Arkansas, No. 55 Oklahoma). The Cowgirls are currently on a four-match win streak. Tulsa coach Dean Orford is 4-1 all-time against Oklahoma State. He has led his team to a four-match win streak over the Cowgirls, which includes a 6-1 decision in Tulsa last year. The last time OSU defeated the Golden Hurricane was in 2006.
LAST TIME OUT
Tulsa defeated both No. 50 LSU and Conference USA rival SMU by identical 6-1 decisions to increase its home win streak to 33-straight matches. Seniors Anastasia Erofeeva and Bonny Davidson joined sophomore Samantha Vickers with unblemished 4-0 marks. Junior Michelle Farley and freshman Isaura Enrique were 3-1 in the two matches.
DOUBLES RECORD BELONGS TO EROFEEVA
Senior Anastasia Erofeeva won her doubles match against K-State's top tandem Feb. 10. The win gave her sole possession of the school record for most career doubles victories. Erofeeva now has 100 doubles wins, nine clear of former Tulsa great Alexandra Kichoutkin (2007-11). Erofeeva also has 103 career singles victories, which is third in school history, and she is tied for first all-time with 203 career combined victories. Fellow senior Ewa Szatkowska has teamed with Erofeeva for 75 of those 100 victories, and Szatkowska has 86 career doubles victories of her own, which is tied for fourth on the school's all-time charts. Her 81 singles wins are seventh-most in school history. She is sixth all-time with 167 career combined victories.
EROFEEVA EARNS THREE C-USA TENNIS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK HONORS
Senior Anastasia Erofeeva has been named the Conference USA Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week on three occasions this season. She won the award on Jan. 31, March 13 and March 20. Her most recent honor was bestowed to her after she posted a 4-0 mark in wins over No. 50 LSU and C-USA rival SMU. Her biggest win came against SMU's Edyta Cieplucha, who was ranked No. 56 in the nation. Erofeeva came from behind to defeat the Mustang at No. 1 singles, 4-6, 6-3, 2-1 (10-8). She was bestowed the honor March 13 after she posted a singles victory over No. 110 Sonja Molnar of Iowa, while also recording her first-career victory over a ranked doubles opponent when she teamed with senior Ewa Szatkowska to defeat Nebraska's No. 23-ranked pair of Madeleine Geibert and Stefanie Weinstein. She received her first laurel after upsetting No. 40 Joelle Kissell of N.C. State 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. The win was her first against a player ranked inside the top 100. The senior was also leading No. 24 Natalie Pluskota of Tennessee 6-2, 4-4 before the match was halted in the second round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
VICKERS WINS FIRST-CAREER C-USA TENNIS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK LAUREL
Samantha Vickers was named the Conference USA Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week Jan. 24. The laurel was the first for the sophomore, who opened the dual season with an unblemished 4-0 singles mark and a 3-0 doubles record. Vickers finished second in the overall singles standings at the Bulldog Invitational with 21 points. Vickers teamed with senior Bonny Davidson to open the year with a perfect 3-0 mark in doubles.
ORFORD IS TULSA'S ALL-TIME WINNINGEST COACH
Tulsa coach Dean Orford broke the school record for career wins in 2011. His record-breaking victory came Jan. 21 with a 7-0 victory over Mississippi State. He passed Paige McMurray (1998-05), who ended her career with a 104-65 mark. Orford is in his seventh season as head coach of the Golden Hurricane, and he has recorded 140 victories to just 41 losses for a school-record .773 win percentage. In 2011, Orford led TU to a school-record 26 wins and an .897 win percentage. He was named the ITA Central Region Coach of the Year and the Conference USA Coach of the Year for his efforts on the record-breaking campaign. Orford has also been dominant at home during his career. He owns a 94-11 record at Case Tennis Center for a stellar .895 home winning percentage.
TULSA MOVES BACK INTO TOP 30, DOUBLES TEAM EARNS NATIONAL RANK
Tulsa improved two spots to No. 29 in the most recent Campbell/ITA College Tennis Rankings released March 20. Earlier in the season, Tulsa tied the school record with a rank of No. 19. TU ended 2011 at No. 21, which was the highest end-of-year rank in school history. Tulsa also began this season ranked No. 22, which was the highest preseason rank in school history. Sophomore Samantha Vickers is the highest ranked singles player at No. 67 in the country, while senior Anastasia Erofeeva sits at No. 91. The doubles team of Erofeeva and fellow senior Ewa Szatkowska earned a doubles rank of No. 60. The ITA ranking system began in 1997-98.
STREAKING AT HOME
Tulsa is currently riding a 33-match win streak at the friendly confines of Case Tennis Center. The streak began Feb. 21, 2010 with a 6-1 triumph over Kansas. The Golden Hurricane won its last 10 home matches in 2010, which included all three matches in the 2010 Conference USA Championship. Tulsa followed that up with an unblemished 14-0 mark at home in 2011, and the team is 9-0 this season. The last time TU fell at Case Tennis Center was Feb. 17, 2010, when the blue and gold dropped a narrow 4-3 decision to in-state rival Oklahoma. Coach Dean Orford has posted a ridiculous 94-11 (.895) home record during his six-plus seasons at the helm of the women's program.
MEMPHIS TO HOST CONFERENCE USA CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2012 Conference USA Championship is scheduled to take place April 19-22 at the Dunavant-Wellford Tennis Center in Memphis, Tenn. This will be the first time Memphis has hosted either a men's or women's C-USA Tennis Championship. Since the latest C-USA merger in 2005-06, Tulsa is the lone school to host multiple championships (2007, `10). UCF (2011), Rice (2009), Houston (2008), and SMU (2006) have also served as host sites. Since 2005-06, the Golden Hurricane leads the league with four titles, while Rice (2006) and SMU (2009) have also won league crowns.
TULSA AT THE C-USA CHAMPIONSHIP
Tulsa has competed in six C-USA Championships since joining the league in 2005-06, and the Golden Hurricane has captured four of the last five titles. TU began its run in 2007, when the team defeated third-seed Marshall 4-0 in the finals. The Golden Hurricane has been the No. 1 seed in three of the last five tournaments (2007, `08, `11) and the No. 2 seed the other two years (2009, `10). Tulsa defeated Marshall in the championship match during its first three title runs (2007, `08, `10), and the Golden Hurricane topped SMU 4-3 in last year's final. The Golden Hurricane owns an all-time record of 15-2 (.882) in the Conference USA Championship.
CHALLENGING SCHEDULE ON DOCKET FOR GOLDEN HURRICANE
The 2012 schedule is proving to be a daunting one for the Tulsa women's tennis team. The Golden Hurricane is facing 16 teams who received a preseason ranking (top 75). Nine of those schools were ranked inside the top 50 and four earned preseason rankings inside the top 30 (No. 18 Tennessee, No. 24 Arkansas, No. 25 Oklahoma and No. 30 Yale). TU posted a 12-3 mark against ranked foes in 2011 and the team is 4-2 this season.
