Women’s Tennis Ends Homestand against Oral Roberts, Central Arkansas

Friday, January 19

Tulsa, Okla.

2:00 p.m.

Tulsa

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Joshua Rogers

Women’s Tennis Ends Homestand against Oral Roberts, Central Arkansas

1/18/2024 5:55:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Live Stream

TULSA, Okla. — The 3-0 Tulsa women's tennis team will wrap up its five-match season-opening homestand at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center this weekend against the cross-town rival Oral Roberts Golden Eagles and the Central Arkansas Bears.

The Golden Hurricane's dual match with Oral Roberts is slated for 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 19, between the men's team's season-opening doubleheader matches. Then, TU will host Central Arkansas Sunday, Jan. 21, at 10:30 a.m.

All the action will stream on Track-Tennis.

Tulsa owns the overall series against Oral Roberts 45-6, with wins in the last 42 meetings. Entering his 19^th season leading the Hurricane, Dean Orford is undefeated against the Golden Eagles and has only given up two points during his tenure at TU. The annual matchup took a break last year in 2023 and returns to the Case Tennis Center for the first time since 2021.

ORU finished the 2023 spring season 7-12 overall. The Golden Eagles return seven from last year's roster.

The Hurricane is 2-0 against Central Arkansas heading into Sunday's matchup. Both match wins came at home with a 6-1 victory in 2019 and a 7-0 sweep in 2021. Tulsa players will face familiar opponents as Central Arkansas was one of three schools to compete in the Tulsa Invite back in November.

Last year, the Bears went 12-10 under seventh-year head coach Casey Wharton. They won five of their last six dual matches before taking a first-round exit in the ASUN Championships. UCA returns five from the 2023 roster, including Nanoka Kazama, Konomi Miyakawa and Ting-An Chen, who each earned eight singles wins for the Bears.

For Tulsa, junior Maria Berlanga Bandera enters the weekend on a six-match win streak in singles play dating back to November. She's the second to reach the 10-win mark at 10-3, while fifth-year senior Oleksandra Nahurska, ranked No. 125 in the latest ITA singles poll, is 10-4 overall.

Entering Friday on a hot streak are junior Ana Naranjo Martinez and freshman Tayla Wilmot, who went 3-0 together at Doubles No. 3 in the Hurricane's three wins during opening weekend.