Oklahoma tennis: Sooner women advance to NCAA national semifinal
By Chip Rouse
The women’s Oklahoma tennis team continues to find itself deeper and deeper into uncharted territory. And they are feeding off the historical climb to excellence.
On Friday, in Champaign, Illinois, the No. 2 Sooners defeated No. 7-ranked Texas A&M 4-3 to advance to the national semifinals of the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship.
For the first time in program history, the OU women find themselves in the final four of the NCAA Championship.
Oklahoma will go up against No. 3-seeded Duke on Saturday night for the right to play for the national championship. The other national semifinal match features No. 1 North Carolina against Big 12 rival Texas, the No. 4 seed in the 2022 championship.
The Sooners opened the scoring in the quarterfinals match with Texas A&M, capturing the doubles point when Dana Guzman and Emma Staker fought back to tie the match against the Aggies’ pair of Renee McBryde and Gianna Pielet at 5-5 before finishing off a 7-5 victory to win the point for the Sooners.
Texas A&M won the first two singles matches, defeating OU’s Ivana Corley and Guzman to go on top 2-1 in the overall match. No. 10 Layne Sleeth won her singles match, drawing the Sooners even at two points apiece.
A&M regained the lead at 3-2 when Pielet defeated OU’s Alexandra Pisareva in straight sets.
Carmen Corley of Oklahoma regained the momentum for the Sooners, defeating 25th-ranked Tatiana Makorova of the Aggies in three sets after losing the first set. It was Carmen’s fourth win of the season against a top-25 opponent.
With the score deadlocked at 3-3, it all came down to the match between OU’s Staker and Jeanette Mireles of Texas A&M. Staker dropped the first opening set of the match 3-6 before roaring back with 6-2, 6-3 wins in the final two sets to register the deciding point for the Sooners and punch their ticket to the final four of NCAA women’s tennis.
So, Oklahoma and Duke will now meet with a spot in the national championship final on the line. The Sooners defeated Duke 4-2 earlier in the season in Durham. North Carolina. Looking ahead, OU is 2-1 against Texas this season, but lost to then-No. 2 North Carolina in February.