Tulsa’s Top Three Singles Excel in Narrow 4-3 Loss to Tulane

Friday, February 9

Tulsa, Okla.

2:00 p.m.

Tulsa

Tulane

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa’s Top Three Singles Excel in Narrow 4-3 Loss to Tulane

2/9/2024 6:42:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score (PDF)Season Results (PDF)

TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa women's tennis team put three on the board with wins in the top half of the singles lineup, but the Tulane Green Wave claimed the bottom half and the doubles point to run away with the 4-3 decision in the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. The Golden Hurricane fell to 5-4 on the year, while the Green Wave improved to 4-1.

Junior pair Maria Berlanga Bandera and Lily Hutchings gave Tulsa the edge in doubles play with a 6-2 win at the No. 1 spot, but Tulane would capture positions two and three by scores of 6-3 and 7-5, respectively, to earn what would be a crucial opening score.

Hutchings was the first to finish her singles match, cruising to a near-perfect 6-1, 6-0 victory over Tulane's Kristen Borland at No. 3 Singles. After Borland claimed what would be her only game point to make it 3-1 in the first set, Hutchings counted off nine straight game wins to run away with her fifth win of the spring season.

Fifth year senior Oleksandra Nahurska followed up in the second position with back-to-back 6-3 set wins to put Tulsa up 2-1 on the Green Wave. She used 3-0 and 3-1 leads to her advantage to cruise to 12-7 in singles matches on the year.

Tulane knotted up the dual match at 2-2 with a two-set decision before Berlanga quickly responded with a 6-4, 6-4 winner atop the lineup. In her first set, neither player led by more than one game until Berlanga broke the deadlock at 4-4 to take the first set 6-4. Then in set two, Berlanga never trailed on the way to securing the stanza and putting TU up 3-2.

The Green Wave hit back with a 6-4, 6-2 decision at No. 6 Singles, making it a 3-3 match.

It all came down to the No. 4 position as Ana Naranjo Martinez and Tulane's Cora Barber battled in what was the only three-set match of the day. In the first set, Barber led by many as four games at 5-1 before closing out 6-4. Naranjo would respond in the second frame by taking control at 3-1 and running to a 6-3 finish to force a third set. In the final stanza, Naranjo erased a 4-2 deficit and forced a tiebreaker set at six games all. Both athletes fought tooth and nail in the tiebreaker but it would be Barber who would come back from being down 4-1 to take the set 8-6 to seal away the dual match at 4-3.

Tulsa will hit the road next week to face Arkansas () on Friday, Feb. 16, before heading back to Montgomery, Ala., for the 76^th Annual Blue and Gray National Tennis Classic from Feb. 23-24.

Singles
1. Maria Berlanga Bandera (TLS) def. Lahari Yelamanchili (TLN) 6-4, 6-4
2. Oleksandra Nahurska (TLS) def. Mackenzie Clark (TLN) 6-3, 6-3
3. Lily Hutchings (TLS) def. Kristen Borland (TLN) 6-1, 6-0
4. Cora Barber (TLN) def. Ana Naranjo Martinez (TLS) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6)
5. Charlotte Russell (TLN) def. Myroslava Zelenchuk (TLS) 6-4, 6-3
6. Jiayun Zhu (TLN) def. Erin McKenzie (TLS) 6-4, 6-2

Doubles
1. Maria Berlanga Bandera (TLS) def. Lahari Yelamanchili/Kristen Borland (TLN) 6-2
2. Mackenzie Clark/ Cora Barber (TLN) def. Zelenchuk/McKenzie (TLS) 6-3
3. Charlotte Russell/Delanie Tribby def. Ana Naranjo Martinez/Tayla Wilmot (TLS) 7-5

Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (3,2,5,1,6)