ORLANDO, Fla. – Tulsa’s doubles tandem of Martina Okalova and Vera Ploner earned All-America status as the duo reached the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championships at the USTA National Campus.
Okalova and Ploner won their first two matches in the NCAA doubles bracket before falling to the No. 1 seeded tandem from USC Thursday. They became the second and third players in school history to achieve All-America status by virtue of a quarterfinal finish at the NCAA Championships.
The Tulsa duo finished the season with a 29-7 overall record and a 15-4 mark in dual matches.
Tulsa’s tandem was one of three American Athletic Conference pairs to compete in the NCAA doubles bracket. UCF’s Ksenia Kuznetsova and Valeriya Zeleva won their first-round match, but fell in the round of 16 to a seeded tandem from North Carolina. Wichita State’s duo of Marta Bellucco and Fatima Bizhukova fell in the opening round of the doubles bracket.
The NCAA singles bracket saw Zeleva, the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, as the lone entrant from the conference. Zeleva dropper her first-round match to Julia Rosenqvist of California.
NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
American Athletic Conference Pairings
USTA National Campus | Orlando, Fla.
SINGLES
Round of 64 | May 20
Julia Rosenqvist (California) def. Valeriya Zeleva (UCF), 6-0, 6-2
DOUBLES
Round of 32 | May 21
Martina Okalova/Vera Ploner (Tulsa) def. Daevenia Achone/Daniella Roldan (Miami (Fla.)), 7-6, 6-2
Ksenia Kuznetsova/Valeriya Zeleva (UCF) def. Hind Abdelouahid/Mariia Kozyreva (Saint Mary’s), 7-4, 4-6, (10-6)
Sofia Blanco/Catherine Gulihur (Oklahoma State) def. Marta Bellucco/Fatima Bizhukova (Wichita State), 6-1, 6-1
Round of 16 | May 22
Okalova/Ploner (Tulsa) def. Nina Khmelnitckaia/Janet Koch (Kansas), 7-6, 6-7, (10-3)
Makenna Jones/Cameron Morra (North Carolina) def. Kuznetsova/Zeleva (UCF), 7-5, 7-6
Quarterfinals | May 23
No. 1 Angela Kulikov/Rianna Valdes (USC) def. Okalova/Ploner, 6-1, 6-2