LARAMIE, Wyo. (Jan. 10, 2024) – The Wyoming Cowgirl tennis team opens its spring 2024 campaign with four matches in three days this weekend down in Oklahoma. The Cowgirls face No. 13 Oklahoma Friday, January 12 at 2 p.m., Mountain Time to begin play in the Sooner State. After that, UW will face Omaha, Louisiana Tech and Tulsa at the Tulsa Hurricane Invitational Saturday and Sunday.
UW will face Louisiana Tech beginning at 8 a.m., Mountain Time Saturday to get the invite started. After that, the Cowgirls will face Omaha in just the singles portion of their match Saturday afternoon. Wyoming and Omaha will conclude its match with doubles play Sunday morning before the Cowgirls face host-Tulsa following the conclusion of the Omaha contest.
The Cowgirls are coming off arguably the best season in program history in 2022-23. Wyoming went 16-11 overall, 9-1 in the Mountain West, claimed its first Mountain West title in program history and played in its first national postseason tournament ever last season. UW is in its 13th season with Head Coach Dean Clower at the helm.
Wyoming returns three-time All-Mountain West honoree, Sophie Zehender to this season's squad. Zehender was named to both the Mountain West Singles and Doubles Teams in each of the past three seasons. However, the Cowgirls will need to replace Zehender's all-conference partner, Ana Fernandez, who graduated after last season. Wyoming also must replace four-time all-league honoree, Maria Oreshkina, who is one of three Cowgirls in program history who was named All-Mountain West four times.
Zehender enters the spring ranking 35th in program history with 43 career singles wins and is 27th all-time with 39 doubles wins. Noesjka Brink, who had a stellar fall campaign, in which she became the first Cowgirl in program history to claim an ITA Mountain Region Singles championship, tallied a 10-4 record this fall, also returns to the squad. Brink nabbed a pair of individual fall tournament titles on her way to an appearance at the ITA National Fall Championships in November. Brink is just behind Zehender in all-time singles wins with 38 and has 29 doubles victories, which ranks 38th in UW history.
The Brown & Gold also return Violetta Borodina for her second campaign with the Cowgirls. The sophomore went 16-7 last season in singles action and went 13-8 at No. 2 doubles along with Oreshkina. Serina Abriola, Nikol Dobrilova, Adel Ismagulova and Lucia Malinak all return for Wyoming this spring. The Cowgirls also welcome newcomer, Jeselle Ante, a freshman from Riverside, Calif.
Friday's match will be the first of 26 scheduled matches for the Cowgirls this spring. Wyoming also has a big-time home schedule this season as it hosts 10 matches in Laramie in 2024, including five Mountain West contests. After this weekend, the Cowgirls will host their first home match of the season Jan. 24 as Buffalo comes to town.
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