Women’s Tennis Set for First SEC Championship Friday

NORMAN – The No. 3-seeded Oklahoma women's tennis team will face No. 6 seed LSU in the quarterfinals of the 2025 SEC Tennis Championship on Friday, April 18, at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn, Alabama. First serve is set for 9 a.m. CT.

The Sooners earned a double bye into the quarterfinals by securing the tournament's No. 3 seed. In their most recent matchup with LSU on April 6 in Baton Rouge, Oklahoma dropped the doubles point but responded with four straight-set wins in singles to claim a 4–1 victory — their fourth top-10 win of the season.

Should the Sooners advance, they will face the winner of No. 2 seed Georgia and either No. 7 seed Tennessee or No. 15 seed Missouri in the semifinals on Thursday at 12 p.m. CT.

SOONER STORYLINES

REGULAR SEASON RECAP

The Sooners concluded its inaugural SEC regular season with an 18-5 overall record and an 11-4 mark in league play. OU secured a top-three seed in a conference championship for the fourth consecutive year and will look to capture the first tournament title in program history.

OU closed the regular season on a six-match winning streak, going undefeated in April. The Sooners' signature victories came during one weekend at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship: a 4-2 win over No. 6 Michigan on Feb. 7, followed by a 4-3 upset of No. 7 Michigan on Feb. 8.

Four of Oklahoma's five regular-season losses came on the road and were all against top-15 opponents, including two losses to Texas A&M and one each to Texas, Georgia and Tennessee.

STAKER REACHES MILESTONE

Senior Emma Staker made history in the Sooners' regular-season finale, defeating Alabama's Martinez Vaquero 6–2, 5–7, 6–2 to become just the second player in program history to reach 100 career singles wins. She joins Stefanie Flory, who set the program record with 101 career singles victories in 1982.

ROAD TESTED

Six of Oklahoma's eight matches against SEC opponents ranked in the ITA top 25 were played on the road, making for one of the toughest schedules in the country during the Sooners' inaugural season in the conference. Oklahoma went 4–4 in those contests.

WHERE THEY RANK

The Oklahoma currently sits at No. 5 in the ITA team rankings. The squad reached a season-high ranking of No. 3 on Feb. 12, their best ranking since being tabbed No. 2 during the 2022 campaign which remains the highest ranking in program history. OU's impressive resume includes four ranked wins over top-10 opponents.

Additionally, the Sooners have yhree players in the ITA singles rankings. Leading the pack is No. 29 Julia Garcia Ruiz, followed by No. 32 Alina Shcherbinina and No. 66 Emma Staker.

In doubles, OU is represented by No. 36 Shcherbinina and Garcia Ruiz, followed by No. 49 Salakthip Ounmuang and Roisin Gilheany, No. 55 Shcherbinina and Mester, and No. 84 Garcia Ruiz and Chloé Noël.

TOURNAMENT INFO

The 2025 SEC Women's Tennis Championship will be held at Auburn University's Yarbrough Tennis Center. Live stats will be available throughout the tournament, and all matches — whether played indoors or outdoors — will be streamed live on PlaySight until the SEC Network broadcasts the semifinal and final rounds.

Updated brackets, spectator details and additional tournament information are available here.