Cowgirls Tennis Starts this Weekend with a Marathon
STILLWATER -- This is a magic season for Oklahoma State tennis, men's and women's, as the Greenwood Tennis Center, Oklahoma State, and Stillwater will host the Big 12 and NCAA Tennis Championships in May. Oklahoma State director of tennis and women's head coach Chris Young is starting his team off with a unique schedule. Bright and early on Saturday the Cowgirls will host Abilene Christian at 10 a.m. and then come back at 6 p.m. to face a solid Wichita State squad. Then on Sunday at 2 p.m. the Cowgirls will host Central Arkansas before finishing up the marathon 36 hour test with Oral Roberts at 6 p.m.
Four duals in the span of no more than really 34 hours. That's a lot of tennis!
"Excited for our kids. It's going to be a big challenge for them and I have never done this before with four matches on back-to-back days," Young said of the marathon beginning. "I think we have some good depth we have some young kids, so I think it will help us find out where everybody fits in the line-up."
Young and his team are ranked 11th in the nation and junior Lisa Marie Rioux is the Cowgirls top-rated individual at 16th in the ITA rankings. Sophomore Bunyawi Thamchaiwat is ranked 29th and Ayumi Miyamoto is in the top 100 at 92nd. Young has a new addition to the roster for this spring semester in Lenka Stara of Slovakia.
Lenka Stará of Slovakia has signed with @CowgirlTennis, and will join Oklahoma State in the spring of 2020. The 19-year-old has an ITF juniors career-high ranking of #45, WTA career-high rankings of #847 in singles and #749 in doubles, as well as a UTR high of 11.91. pic.twitter.com/xRejcoZnEQ
— Parsa Bombs 💣 (@ParsaBombs) October 16, 2019
Young compares his new player to another former Slovakian athlete on the Cowgirls team in Viktoriya Lushkova. That would be something for sure.
This will be a challenge and Young will likely use different line-ups throughout the weekend.
"I'm going to go out and play my best," said Rioux. "I've never played this many matches in this short period, but we are going to find out what kind of shape we are in. I've been working over the break (holiday and between semesters).
The challenge is a good way to begin this season according to Young because the opportunity is so great this year with the Greenwood Tennis Center hosting the Big 12 and NCAA Championships in May.
"I've told our players and anyone that will listen to me that this is just an opportunity," Young echoed. "The Big 12 and then the NCAA Tournament trophies are going to be given to somebody here on our courts. We are so good at home, so that if we can play well enough to have the opportunity to play for the Big 12 Championship and then the NCAA Championship on our court we will have a great chance. We play so well at home and our fans give us that extra boost."
Young may have a little bit of a split attention on Sunday in his team's first match as the Cowgirls are playing at the same time Young's beloved Kansas City Chiefs are playing in the NFL Playoffs.
"It is a sacrifice and I hope my players realize what a sacrifice it is," Young said of missing the AFC Divisional Game on Sunday with Kansas City, his longtime favorite team hosting the Houston Texans. While Young hope Patrick Mahomes is throwing bombs at Arrowhead Stadium, he is hoping his players will be serving bombs at Central Arkansas.
"I remember last year we were playing a really important match the same time the Chiefs were playing to go to the Super Bowl," Young said. "I remember coming back in and seeing that the Chiefs did not score a point in the first half and I stayed in the locker room and watched until the end. Of course, this year we are not going against Tom Brady and the Patriots, so that should help."
There will be free pizza both days and you can get a look at the new resurfaced courts in the Greenwood Tennis Center that also has a new, even brighter, indirect lighting system. It is part of the new improvements that are keeping the Greenwood Center one of the best facilities in college tennis and Oklahoma State in a good place recruiting tennis talent to Stillwater.
