Tulsa Women’s Tennis Falls to #13 Wichita State 5-2

Saturday, March 5

Tulsa, Okla.

1:00 p.m.

Tulsa

Wichita State

Tulsa Women’s Tennis Falls to #13 Wichita State 5-2

3/5/2016 4:42:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: Don Tomkalski

The No. 18-ranked Tulsa Golden Hurricane women's tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision at home against the 13^th-ranked Wichita State Shockers Saturday afternoon at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. The Hurricane fell to 12-2 on the season, while the Shockers improved to 15-3.

The loss for the Hurricane snapped a seven-match winning streak, while Wichita State won its fifth consecutive game.

Wichita State took a 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point, before Tulsa's Rongrong Leenabanchong evened the match at 1-1 by taking a 6-4, 6-2 win at flight #2 over Julia Schiller.

Tulsa took a 2-1 lead when Renata Kuricova, at the No. 6 singles slot, took the first two sets, 6-2 and 7-5. In set 2, Kuricova trailed 0-3 and 1-4 before winning the next four points to take a 5-4 lead, then after a 5-5 tie, Kuricova finished the match by winning the final two points.

Wichita State knotted the score at 2-2 when Gabriela Porubin defeated Sanna Saarteinen at the No. 1 singles position with a straight set win of 6-4, 6-1.

The Shockers then won the next two matches at flights No. 5 and 4 to claim the victory, while the No. 2 slot played out the contest in a tie-breaker for a 5-2 win.

After coming back from a 5-3 deficit, Yelena Nemchen won the next four points to claim a 7-5 victory in the first set. Nemchen fell 6-3 in second set and lost 6-0 in the final set. Marcelina Cichon also won her first set at the No. 4 position, 6-3, but lost 7-6 and 6-1 in her final two sets.

Tulsa's Ksenia Laskutova dropped an 11-9 tiebreaker at the No. 2 position after losing the first set 7-6, and winning the second set 7-6.

Tulsa dropped the doubles point to start the match as Wichita State's No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams captured victories to claim the point for the Shockers. Tulsa's Mahitha Dadireddy and Saana Saarteinen won their doubles match by a 6-4 score.

Tulsa will be in action next against No. 72-ranked Oklahoma on Wednesday, March 9.

For all Tulsa women's tennis news and information, visit www.TulsaHurricane.com.
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SINGLES

Gabriela Porubin (WSU) def. Saana Saarteinen (Tulsa) 6-4, 6-1
Rebecca Predrazzi (WSU) def. Ksenia Laskutova (Tulsa) 7-6, 6-7, 11-9
Rongrong Leenabanchong (Tulsa) def. Julie Schiller (WSU) 6-4, 6-2
Giulia Guidetti (WSU) def. Marcelina Cichon (Tulsa) 3-6, 7-6, 6-1
Aleksandra Trifunovic (WSU) def. Yelena Nemchen (Tulsa) 5-7, 6-3, 6-0
Renata Kuricova (Tulsa) def. Abby Stevens (WSU) 6-2, 7-5

Order of Finish: 3, 6, 1, 5, 4, 2

DOUBLES

Probin/Schiller (WSU) def. Laskutova/Kuricova (Tulsa) 7-5
Pedrazzi/Trifunovic (WSU) def. Leenabanchong/Matoula (Tulsa) 6-3
Saarteinen/Dadireddy (Tulsa) def. Guidetti/Stevens (WSU) 6-4

Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1

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