Alabama
Oklahoma
No. 30 Women's Tennis Edged by Oklahoma 4-3
2/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Feb. 6, 2010
NORMAN, Okla. - The 30th-ranked women's tennis team fell 4-3 Saturday at Oklahoma dropping the Crimson Tide to 2-3 on the season. The Sooners improved to 4-0 with the win. Alabama battled back after losing the doubles point to take a 3-1 lead, but Oklahoma came back to win the final three singles matches for the overall victory.
"We dug ourselves in a hole right away, but Oklahoma came out ready to play," head coach Jenny Mainz said. "We have to be accountable for that. We can't find ways to get through things right now. In order for us to be effective this season everyone has to show up and that did not happen today."
Oklahoma got out to the 1-0 lead after securing the doubles point with wins on court two and three. The Sooner duo of juniors Tara Eckel and Maria Kalashnikova were first to finish up picking up an 8-1 win over the Alabama pair of junior Paulina Bigos and freshman Antonia Foehse. Freshman Katelyn Connelly and sophomore Marie-Pier Huet delivered the clinching win for Oklahoma as they defeated the Tide tandem of senior Alice Tunaru and junior Meritt Emery 8-3 at No. 3. The matchup on court one continued and sophomore Courtney McLane and freshman Alexa Guarachi were able to knock off the 39th-ranked duo of junior Ana-Maria Constantinescu and freshman Teona Tsertsvadze 8-3.
"Courtney and Alexa did a great job," Mainz said. "They really took care of business. I'm disappointed at the way we came out at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, however. We really just did not come out ready to play at those positions. We did not get any energy or momentum from doubles."
No. 82 Guarachi evened the score for Alabama in singles as the Tide rookie picked up a 6-4, 6-2 win on court two over Huet. Alabama then jumped out to a 3-1 advantage with a pair of straight-set victories at No. 1 and No. 4. First off was Emery on court four who downed Tsertsvadze 6-2, 7-5 for the win. McLane followed quickly behind knocking off 56th-ranked Constantinescu 6-3, 7-6(6) at the No. 1 spot.
"Courtney did a great job finishing at No. 1 today," Mainz added. "She's been battling, and today she did an excellent job of finishing. She stepped up and really took a step forward today."
From there, Oklahoma went on to win on the remaining three courts to pick up the 4-3 victory. The matchup at No. 6 was the next to finish as Eckel earned a 6-4, 6-4 win over Tunaru. Shortly thereafter, sophomore Kristina Radan edged Foehse 6-4, 7-5 at No. 5 to tie the overall dual match at 3-3. After dropping her first set to Bigos 6-4, Kalashnikova finished the match at No. 3 off with scores of 6-1 and 6-3 in the final two sets to give her team the win.
Next up, Alabama hosts Georgia State on Saturday, Feb. 13 at the Alabama Tennis Stadium. Opening serve is slated for noon (CST).
RESULTS
Doubles
1. McLane/Guarachi (UA) def. No. 39 Constantinescu/Tsertsvadze (OU) 8-3
2. Eckel/Kalashnikova (OU) def. Bigos/Foehse (UA) 8-1
3. Connelly/Huet (OU) def. Tunaru/Emery (UA) 8-3
Order of Finish: 2,3,1
Singles
1. Courtney McLane (UA) def. No. 56 Ana-Maria Constantinescu (OU) 6-3, 7-6(6)
2. No. 82 Alexa Guarachi (UA) def. Marie-Pier Huet (OU) 6-4, 6-2
3. Maria Kalashnikova (OU) def. Paulina Bigos (UA) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
4. Meritt Emery (UA) def. Teona Tsertsvadze (OU) 6-2, 7-5
5. Kristina Radan (OU) def. Antonia Foehse (UA) 6-4, 7-5
6. Tara Eckel (OU) def. Alice Tunaru (UA) 6-4, 6-4
Order of Finish: 2,4,1,6,5,3*
Players Mentioned
