The No. 7 Texas Tech Women’s Tennis team won the program’s first Big 12 Championship title as the Lady Raiders downed No. 9 Oklahoma State, 4-2.
The Lady Raiders (24-4) have defeated the Cowgirls (21-5) twice this season.
This was the third straight Big 12 Championship final that the Lady Raiders have played in and the first Big 12 tournament title for the Lady Raiders. The title also marked the first year Tech captured the regular season title and the championship title.
“I’m just so proud of the girls, especially this junior class,” Head Coach Todd Petty said. “They’ve gone three years without a Big 12 title and we’ve played for it quite a few times leading up into this season. For them to get a share of the regular season and claim the tournament championship, I just could not be more proud of them overall.”
Texas Tech clinched the doubles point with wins on courts one and two. No. 75 doubles duo Felicity Maltby and Gabriela Talaba picked up a 6-2 victory over No. 50 Aliona Bolsova and Sofia Blanco just before No. 30 Sabrina Federici and Sarah Dvorak captured the point with a 6-2 win over No. 10 Carla Tur Mari and Vladica Babic.
Dvorak gave the Lady Raiders a 2-0 lead with a 6-0, 7-5 win over Lena Ruppert on court five. Talaba defeated No. 7 Viktoriya Lushkova in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) to make it 2-0 in Tech’s favor.
Federici suffered her second loss of the season in a 7-5, 6-3 loss to No. 69 Vladica Babic as Oklahoma State cut the lead down, 2-1.
Sophomore Alex Valenstein dropped a three-set match (6-2, 4-6, 3-6) to No. 70 Aliona Bolsova as the Cowgirls made it 3-2.
Maltby brought it home with a three-set (2-6, 6-3, 6-3) clincher after battling back from a set down.
Talaba was named the Most Outstanding Performer of the tournament.
UP NEXT
The Lady Raiders will find out their NCAA postseason fate on Tuesday during the Selection Show set to air at 5:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.