Women’s Tennis Closes Out Historic Season
5/23/2018 3:36:00 PM | Women's Tennis
TULSA, Okla. – The Tulsa women's tennis team concluded its season, after it made it to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history. The Golden Hurricane won its eighth conference title under Head Coach Dean Orford.
Ksenia Laskutova was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year and earned all-conference accolades as well. Martina Okalova collected all-conference honors for the first time in her young career. The Intercollegiate Tennis Association had both players ranked in the latest poll, with Laskutova at the No. 80 spot and Okalova at No. 112.
In its first four seasons in the American, Tulsa has won three of the four conference championships.
Tulsa finished the season ranked No. 17 by the United States Tennis Association. The Hurricane was ranked by the USTA for the final three rankings of the year.
TU recorded a season-high seven-match winning streak on two separate occasions. The first streak was from Feb. 3-March 3, which included a 4-2 victory against No. 16 Baylor. The second started on April 8 and lasted until May 12, which included wins against four different ranked opponents.
The Hurricane finished the regular season with a record of 18-5 and a perfect 5-0 mark in conference play. Tulsa posted a 5-1 record in the post season, which included an American Athletic Conference Championship. The Golden Hurricane defeated No. 34 Louisiana State in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. TU followed that with a win against No. 9 Oklahoma State, which secured a berth into the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history.
Tulsa shutout opponents in 12 matches, including a 4-0 victory against SMU in the American Athletic Conference Tournament Final. The Hurricane was never shutout in a loss all year.
As a team, TU compiled 133 wins in singles competition and 69 in doubles play. The winning percentage in singles matches was .672 and .697 in doubles.
Laskutova led the team with a singles record of 24-8 overall and 18-5 in dual matches at the No. 1 position. Okalova notched an overall mark of 21-8 and 14-5 record in dual singles matches in the No. 2 spot. Martha Matoula recorded 20 wins and 10 losses on the season, with a 14-7 mark in dual matches, a majority coming in the No. 4 spot. Vera Ploner posted an overall record of 19-11 and 14-7 in dual matches, primarily at the No. 5 position. Tamara Kupkova also finished with double-digit wins, with an overall mark of 18-11. Kupkova played the majority of her dual matches in the No. 3 position. Shura Poppe produced an outstanding 12-1 mark in dual matches in the No. 6 spot and went 17-4 overall.
Laskutova and Matoula played at the No. 1 doubles spot and posted a dual match record of 19-6 and an overall record of 24-10. Okalova and Ploner recorded a mark of 18-9 overall and 13-6 in dual matches at the No. 2 position. Kupkova and Rouxanne Janse van Rensburg notched a 12-4 record at the No. 3 spot.
For all Tulsa women's tennis news and information, visit TulsaHurricane.com. Follow the team on Twitter and Facebook.
Players Mentioned
