Women's Tennis 2/9/2024 8:16:00 PM Chris Brannick

Central Oklahoma Opens 2024 Season With Win

Bronchos Beat Southwest Baptist 6-1 In Edmond Friday

EDMOND – Central Oklahoma opened the 2024 season Friday afternoon with a convincing 6-1 win over Southwest Baptist at Broncho Courts.

UCO (1-0) won all three doubles matches to earn the early point, then won five of six singles matches, including each of the last four, to pick up the win.

"I'm really proud of the whole team," UCO head women's tennis coach Joe Vann said. "We played well in a scrimmage last week and that continued today. That's a good way to start the season. Any wins we can get builds more confidence for the team. We are seeing a little bit of what we're capable of doing. Today was a good day."

Blythe Buntrock and Pete Komada are the sixth-ranked doubles team in the country and the duo got the spring semester started with a 6-2 win on Friday. The fall regional champs set the tone for the day.

Nafeli Zafeiri and Ayaka Koga won 6-1 at No. 2 doubles, giving UCO the doubles point, and Karyna Yurchenko and Anika Ouwejan also won, 6-2, at No. 3 doubles.

After a short break, Koga flew through her competition at No. 6 singles to give UCO a 2-0 lead in the match. The freshman from Japan won 6-2, 6-0.

Southwest Baptist got its only point of the day at No. 1 singles, with Komada dropping a 6-2, 6-4 decision that made the dual, 2-1. But UCO won out.

Buntrock (6-3, 6-2), Yurchenko (6-3, 6-2), and Ouwejan (6-2, 6-4) picked up straight-set wins to make it 5-1 before Zafeiri turned back her opponent at No. 2 singles in a third-set tiebreaker. After dropping the first set, 6-2, Zafeiri forced a tiebreaker with a 6-3 win. She outlasted SBU's Ghada Dirninger, 10-8, to take the match and give UCO its final, 6-1 score.

The Bronchos were scheduled to host Arkansas Tech on Saturday before a cancellation put a stop to that. Now, Central will go on a 10-match road swing. The next home contest for UCO is scheduled for April 5.

Friday's Results
Doubles
Komada/Buntrock, UCO, def. Ghada Dirninger/Elsa Pascual, 6-2
Koga/Zafeiri, UCO, def. Giselle Garcia/Polina Paunova, 6-1
Ouwejan/Yurchenko, UCO, def. Paula Ballesteros/Leticia Luiz, 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
Ballesteros, SBU, def. Komada, 6-2, 6-4
Zafeiri, UCO, def. Dirninger, 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8)
Buntrock, UCO, def. Pascual, 6-3, 6-2
Yurchenko, UCO, def. Paunova, 6-3, 6-2
Ouwejan, UCO, def. Luiz, 6-2, 6-4
Koga, UCO, def. Garcia, 6-2, 6-0
Order of finish: 6, 1, 3, 4, 5, 2

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Players Mentioned

Blythe Buntrock: 5' 8"; Senior

Pete Komada: 5' 5"; Sophomore

Karyna Yurchenko: 5' 6"; Sophomore

Anika Ouwejan: 5' 7"; Freshman

Ayaka Koga: 5' 3"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Blythe Buntrock
: 5' 8"; Senior

Pete Komada
: 5' 5"; Sophomore

Karyna Yurchenko
: 5' 6"; Sophomore

Anika Ouwejan
: 5' 7"; Freshman

Ayaka Koga
: 5' 3"; Freshman