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OU women's tennis drops Kansas State
by   |  April 15, 2011  |  

Oklahoma got what it wanted in round one of its Kansas schools two-step, beating No. 41 Kansas State, 4-3, inside the Gregg Wadley Indoor Tennis Pavilion.

The 21st-ranked Sooners (15-5, 7-2 Big 12) won the doubles point for the 17th time this season and split the singles matches to hand the Wildcats (13-6, 4-5 Big 12) their second-straight loss.

"I was really happy with doubles play. I thought that was one of the best doubles points we've played all year. Our doubles have been great, so to say that is a big compliment to the girls today," OU coach David Mullins said.

In No. 2 doubles, OU's freshmen duo of Mia Lancaster and Whitney Ritchie put on a clinic. The pair shutout the Wildcats' Karla Bonacic and Petra Chuda, 8-0, improving their team-best doubles record to 11-1 since they made their collegiate debut as a duo on Feb. 27 against Ohio State.

Senior Tara Eckel and junior Marie-Pier Huet locked up the doubles point win for OU with their 8-1 triumph over KSU's Carmen Borau and Ana Gomez at the No. 3 position.

Senior Ana-Maria Constantinescu and freshman Alice Radu, ranked No. 51 nationally in doubles, beat Kansas State's Petra Niedermayerova and Nina Sertic, 8-4, in No. 1 doubles to complete the doubles sweep. The pair improved to 7-1 in Big 12 play with the victory.

It was the fourth-straight doubles point win for the Sooners, who have yet to surrender a doubles point in Big 12 play this season.

The bottom of OU's singles lineup continued rolling, giving up three games or fewer in all six sets of the trio's straight-sets wins.

Huet and senior Maria Kalashnikova stretched the Oklahoma advantage to 3-0, besting Kansas State's Sertic at the No. 4 spot — 6-0, 6-1 — and the Wildcats' Borau at the No. 6 position — 6-1, 6-3 — respectively.

Lancaster sealed the win for OU after defeating KSU's Chuda at the No. 5 spot — 6-2, 6-0. The win improved her overall singles record to 16-3.

Kansas State grabbed victories in No. 1, 2 and 3 singles to take the final three match points.

The Wildcats' Niedermayerova was terrific as usual, beating Constantinescu — 6-0, 6-4 — to improve to 16-3 overall and a conference-best 7-2 mark in No. 1 singles.

Radu dropped her match at the No. 2 spot to Kansas State's Bonacic — 7-6, 6-2 — while Ritchie fell in No. 3 singles in a super-tiebreaker to KSU's Gomez — 6-4, 3-6, 1-0.

Three Sooners will be playing the final home matches of their careers when Oklahoma hosts Kansas (9-10, 3-6) at noon Sunday. OU will honor Constantinescu, Eckel and Kalashnikova in a special ceremony in between doubles and singles play at the Headington Family Tennis Center.

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