Cowgirls Prepare for Arkansas and Tulsa Hoping Hard Lessons were Learned

Oklahoma State won't go to the Indoor Nationals for Tennis after being upset last Sunday by Ohio State but did they learn from the defeat?

STILLWATER -- Last Sunday with a full house of fans in the seats at the Greenwood Tennis Center it was all set p for Oklahoma State to take their top 10 ranking and beat the Ohio State Buckeyes and punch their ticket for Chicago and the ITA Indoor Nationals, but the Buckeyes had other ideas and made good on them. 

After Oklahoma State won the doubles point and it was hard as they claimed it in the third match with a tiebreaker. Then something happened that has never hasn't before in the Greenwood Tennis Center, Oklahoma State lost the first set of  all six of the singles matches. 

"You know I told our kids that what happened on Sunday was just a natural part of the process especially considering how many young kids we have and how much inexperience that we have," Young set up his theory. "There was going to come a point in the season where everything was on the line. And really, we had five girls playing three set matches where they were thinking, 'if I win my match then we're going to have a chance to win as a team and if I lose it then we won't.' I think all those girls got to feel that at once and in sports, you can't always take that jump all at once. It's a gradual thing and as much as we'd like to have won that with mostly a freshman team and gone to the National Indoor and done some damage, I think it is a natural part of the growth." 

Ohio State won at number three singles in straight sets, but Oklahoma State set up the suspense by winning the second set in all of the five remaining singles matches. The Buckeyes took the number five and number four singles matches to go up 3-1, but newcomer Lenka Stara at six singles and red hot Bunyawi Thamchaiwat won at two to bring the dual to even before the Ohio State won at number one singles to win the match 4-3.

"I think like you said, it was the best thing for us to have a setback right here and let's find out in January what we're made of," Young said of the loss. "I think the way these kids responded in practice this week with their energy and work then I think this will be the last time that we have to feel this way."

Now, Yong and his team get back on the court Friday night at 5 p.m. hosting Arkansas and then at noon on Saturday when Tulsa visits Stillwater. Two solid teams in the region that will want to continue the misery for the Cowgirls. Young is optimistic, make that confident that his players will bonce back.

"I didn't think we played great tennis, but I thought we competed really well," said the Oklahoma State director of tennis and Cowgirls head coach. "How to compete when you are not playing well is a learned skill. Bunyawi (Thamchaiwat) is really fit and we knew if she could get her match to a third set then that fitness wold take over. I thought Lenka (Stara) didn't realize how strong she was and there are a couple of things she wasn't doing well that we changed, and I think she is going to play a lot better this coming weekend. Some of those things you can't change in the middle of a match, but the thing was she really competed. She was down and she just decided at the end that she was going to make one more shot that the other girl."

In a season to end all seasons with the Big 12 and the NCAA Championships coming to Stillwater, lessons learned need to soak in and take effect.

"I think the girls learned that they are capable of some things that they weren't sure they could do," added Young looking ahead instead of behind. "I also think they learned from the way Ohio State responded. At number one singles that was some great shot making. Neither player lost it, but the girl from Ohio State made a few more shots."