Tulsa Women’s Tennis Takes Down Minnesota on Senior Day 6-1

Saturday, April 8

Tulsa, Okla.

12 p.m.

Tulsa

Minnesota

Tulsa Women’s Tennis Takes Down Minnesota on Senior Day 6-1

4/8/2017 3:53:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: Riley Ubben

TULSA, Okla. – The University of Tulsa Women's Tennis team controlled the match most of the way on Saturday afternoon as they picked up a 6-1 victory over Minnesota at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. The No. 35-ranked Hurricane moved to 17-6 on the season with one regular season dual remaining before American Athletic Conference Tournament play.

Tulsa set the tone for the afternoon in doubles play with two wins in two completed matches to go ahead of the Gophers 1-0. Rongrong Leenabanchong and Martha Matoula broke serve twice in their 6-2 win over AnneMarie Emme and Tina Kreinis as Leenabanchong secured both breaks with backhand winners at the net.

The TU freshman pairing of Martina Okalova and Vera Ploner built an early 3-0 lead over Carolina Ryba and Cammy Frei before the Minnesota duo took two straight sets. Tulsa closed out the match by holding on their final two serves in a 6-4 win.

Marcelina Cichon went wire-to-wire in her win over Merzbacher at the No. 5 position, taking the first set 6-2 before closing out the second 6-1 as she picked up her 22^nd win of the year to put TU up 2-0.

Leenabanchong also picked up her 22^nd victory of her senior season on court two with a straight sets 6-2, 6-2 win over Kreinis.

Mahitha Dadireddy secured a TU victory at the No. 3 position by defeating Maja Vujic 6-3, 6-2 in a match that Dadireddy built early 4-1 leads in both sets.

Okalova followed shortly with the Hurricane's fourth singles win of the afternoon by besting Emme in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.

Tulsa split a pair of matches to round out play for the day at the No. 1 and No. 6 spots as Ksenia Laskutova rallied to force a third before falling to Ryba in the 10-point tiebreak third set 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8).

Vera Ploner came out on top in a very tight contest against Camila Vargas Gomez in a match where both players earned 7-5 wins in the first two sets before sending it to a tiebreak third. Ploner dominated the tiebreak all the way, shutting out Vargas Gomez 10-0 in a 7-5, 5-7, 1-0 win.

Tulsa will wrap up regular season play on the road with a match-up against Kansas on Thursday at 4 p.m. in Lawrence, Kan.

Doubles
1. Ksenia Laskutova/Mahitha Dadireddy (Tulsa) vs. Mehvish Safdar/Caitlyn Merzbacher (Minnesota) 3-4, unfinished
2. Rongrong Leenabanchong/Martha Matoula (Tulsa) def. AnneMarie Emme/Tina Kreinis (Minnesota) 6-2
3. Martina Okalova/Vera Ploner (Tulsa) def. Carolina Ryba/Cammy Frei (Minnesota) 6-4

Singles
1. Carolina Ryba (Minnesota) def. Ksenia Laskutova (Tulsa) 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8)
2. Rongrong Leenabanchong (Tulsa) def. Tina Kreinis (Minnesota) 6-2, 6-2
3. Mahitha Dadireddy (Tulsa) def. Maja Vujic (Minnesota) 6-3, 6-2
4. Martina Okalova (Tulsa) def. AnneMarie Emme (Minnesota) 6-2, 6-2
5. Marcelina Cichon (Tulsa) def. Caitlyn Merzbacher (Minnesota) 6-2, 6-1
6. Vera Ploner (Tulsa) def. Camila Vargas Gomez (Minnesota) 7-5, 5-7, 1-0 (10-0)