Oklahoma Tennis: Sooners Make History With Dramatic Bedlam Victory

For the first time in program history, the Oklahoma women's tennis program clinched the outright Big 12 regular season title.

Oklahoma needed late magic on Friday night to down its Bedlam rival.

Junior Layne Sleeth delivered, overcoming a pair of deficits to deliver a 4-3 win over No. 12 Oklahoma State in Stillwater and clinch OU’s first outright Big 12 regular season title in program history.

Sleeth rallied from a set down to force a decisive third set, where she then fell behind 4-1. But she never flinched, battling all the way back to top Lisa Mari Rioux and keep the No. 2-ranked Sooners (23-1) unbeaten in conference play.

Layne Sleeth's teammates celebrate after the Sooners clinched the Big 12 regular season title on Friday night :: Bruce Waterfield / Oklahoma State Athletics

Though they needed heroics late to secure the win over the Cowgirls (16-4), the Sooners started off strong.

OU’s Ivana and Carmen Corley won their doubles match alongside Sleeth and Alexandra Pisareva to clinch the first point of the match for Oklahoma.

Pisareva kept the momentum rolling by winning the first singles match of the night, topping OSU’s Sofia Rojas 6-1, 6-1.

The momentum then quickly shifted back in favor of the Cowgirls.

Oklahoma State’s Oona Orpana topped OU’s Dana Guzman in straight sets to put OSU’s first point on the board, and Orpana’s teammates Ayumi Miyamoto and Mhai Sawangkaew quickly followed suit.

With Oklahoma State now up 3-2, the Sooners had to win both singles matches still playing to secure the win.

Oklahoma freshman Anchisa Chanta delivered on court 3 to knot the match back up.

Chanta won the second set tiebreaker to topple OSU’s Martina Zerulo, putting all the focus on Sleeth.

Layne Sleeth battled from down two breaks to win the decisive third set and give Oklahoma the win :: Bruce Waterfield / Oklahoma State Athletics

The Sooner junior delivered, ensuring her team would finish a perfect 7-0 on the road and head into the Big 12 Tournament as the 1-seed.

Capturing the Big 12 regular season crown was just another achievement this season for head coach Audra Cohen, who has steadily built her program into a National Championship contender since arriving in Norman in 2016.

Oklahoma has one more home dual left in the regular season. OU will host No. 5 Pepperdine on Sunday in a rematch of the ITA National Indoor semifinal, when the Sooners won 4-2 to advance to the championship.

After Sunday’s battle against the Waves, Oklahoma will head to Fort Worth to compete in the Big 12 Championship from April 21-24.

---

Want to join the discussion? Click here to become a member of the AllSooners message board community today!

Sign up for your premium membership to AllSooners.com today, and get access to the entire Fan Nation premium network!

Follow AllSooners on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest OU news.