Tulsa Women’s Tennis Moves onto AAC Championship with 4-0 Semifinal Win over SMU

Saturday, April 24

Orlando, Fla.

9:30 am CT

Tulsa

SMU

Photo by: American Athletic Conference

Tulsa Women’s Tennis Moves onto AAC Championship with 4-0 Semifinal Win over SMU

4/24/2021 2:56:00 PM | Women's Tennis

TULSA'S CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES

ORLANDO, Fla. –– Valeryia Rozenkova scored the clinching point and led a contingent of three Tulsa players to register straight-set victories as the Golden Hurricane advanced to the American Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Championship final with a 4-0 win against the No. 2 seed SMU Mustangs Saturday morning at the USTA National Campus.

The 3^rd-seeded Hurricane will play No. 1 seed and the nation's 8^th-ranked UCF Knights in the championship match on Sunday at 11 a.m. (CT) / 12 p.m. (ET). The final match will be aired on ESPN+.

The Hurricane will play for its fourth American Athletic Conference title Sunday. Tulsa previously won the championship in 2015, 2016 and 2018 and is in the championship final for the fifth time in the seven-year history of The American Championship. With today's victory, Tulsa improved to 14-2 all-time in the tournament.

Against the Mustangs, the Hurricane captured the doubles point for the 1-0 lead, something Tulsa wasn't able to do when the two teams met during the regular season on April 5.

Tulsa's 88^th-ranked and No. 1 doubles tandem of Martina Okalova and Vera Ploner defeated SMU's 67^th-ranked team of Jackie Nylander and Hadley Doyle 6-2 to even the match in doubles. The all-important doubles point came down to the No. 3 position where Tulsa's Megan Hopton and Laie Conde Monfort came back from a 3-0 deficit for what amounted to a dominating 6-3 victory.

Tulsa took a 3-0 lead with wins at the No. 4 and No. 3 positions. Vera Ploner made it look easy at No. 4 with a 6-0, 6-0 win, while Shura Poppe avenged an earlier season straight-set loss against SMU's Winslow Huth by claiming a 6-3, 6-0 victory at flight 3, setting the stage for Rozenkova's match-clinching victory.

Rozenkova forced a tiebreaker in the first set after trailing 4-3 to SMU's Claudia Bartolome and went 7-3 in the tiebreak for the 7-6 victory. The Tulsa freshman again trailed in the third set 3-2 before closing out the match with four straight points and a 6-3 win.

With the win, the 46^th-ranked Hurricane moved to 15-6 on the season, while No. 40 SMU fell to 21-10 overall.

#46 TULSA 4, #40 SMU 0
SINGLES
#1    #88 Martina Okalova (Tulsa) vs. #102 Jackie Nylander (SMU) 3-6, 6-5, unfinished
#2    Laia Conde Monfort (Tulsa) vs. Hadley Doyle (SMU) 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), unfinished
#3    Shura Poppe (Tulsa) def. Winslow Huth (SMU) 6-3, 6-0
#4    Vera Ploner (Tulsa) def. Chandler Carter (SMU) 6-0, 6-0
#5    Valeryia Rozenkova (Tulsa) def. Claudia Bartolome (SMU) 7-6 (7-3), 6-3
#6    Lian Benedejcic (Tulsa) vs. Nicole Petchey (SMU) 0-6, 6-4, 0-2, unfinished
Order of Finish: 4, 3, 5

DOUBLES
#1    #88 Martina Okalova/Vera Ploner (Tulsa) vs. #67 Jackie Nylander/Hadley Doyle (SMU) 6-2
#2    Claudia Bartolome/Chandler Carter (SMU) def. Shura Poppe/Valeryia Rozenkova (Tulsa) 6-0
#3    Megan Hopton/Laie Conde Monfort (Tulsa) def. Winslow Huth/Nicole Petchey (SMU) 6-3
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3

Tulsa Women in the AAC Championship
2014-15        CHAMPIONS
Quarterfinal                    #3 Tulsa 4, #6 UCF 0
Semifinal #3 Tulsa 4, #2 Tulane 0
Final                               #3 Tulsa 4, #1 Houston 3

2015-16        CHAMPIONS
Quarterfinal                     #1 Tulsa 4, #8 Tulane 1
Semifinal                         #1 Tulsa 4, #5 Houston 2
Final                                #1 Tulsa 4, #2 USF 0

2016-17        RUNNERS-UP
Quarterfinal                     #1 Tulsa 4, #8 UCF 1
Semifinal                         #1 Tulsa 4, #4 Cincinnati 0
Final                                #7 USF 4, #1 Tulsa 2

2017-18        CHAMPIONS
Quarterfinal                     #2 Tulsa 4, #7 Memphis 1
Semifinal                         #2 Tulsa 4, #3 Wichita State 2
Final #2 Tulsa 2, #5 SMU 0

2018-19        SEMIFINALIST
Quarterfinal                     #4 Tulsa 4, #5 Wichita State 0
Semifinal                         #1 UCF 4, #4 Tulsa 0

2019-20        NO CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYED
AAC Championship canceled due to COVID-19

2020-21
Quarterfinal                     #3 Tulsa 4, #6 Memphis 1
Semifinal #3 Tulsa 4, #2 SMU 0
Final                                #1UCF vs. #3 Tulsa (11 a.m. CT)