Oklahoma State Fights Off Furious Michigan Comeback for First ITA Women's Team Indoor Championship; US Juniors Leach, Cozad and Cedeno Win ITF J100 Titles

Today's final at the ITA Women's Team Indoor Championships was guaranteed to produce a first-time champion, with the University of Michigan and Oklahoma State both reaching the final for the first time in their programs' history. It was the Cowgirls who will be hanging the championship banner in Stillwater, but their 4-3 victory was full of all the twists and turns that make national championships such a special accomplishment and so much fun to witness.

The match certainly didn't start out looking like a classic, with Oklahoma State taking the doubles point, as they had done in their previous three matches. Their No. 1 team of Anastasiya Komar and Ange Oby Kajuru had lost only four games in their first three wins, and they kept right on rolling in the final, beating Jaedan Brown and Kari Miller 6-2, while Ayumi Miyamoto and Racquel Gonzalez secured the point with a 6-3 win over Anna Ross and Lily Jones at line 2.

The next half hour was a discouraging one for Michigan, who had come back from the loss of the doubles point in the first round against Cal, so were not likely to let that carry over into singles. But Oby Kajuru rolled through her first set, taking it 6-0 from Julia Fliegner, and Oklahoma State got the next two first sets as well, with Lucia Peyre topping Michigan's Gala Mesochoritou 6-1 at line 3, and Kristina Novak taking a 6-2 set from Lily Jones at line 6. Both Mesochoritou and Jones were playing in different spots in the lineup, with Mesochoritou normally at 4 and Jones at 5, with the top two spots in singles the only matchups that were the same as when Oklahoma State beat Michigan 4-2 in Stillwater last month.

So with a clear path to the title, Oklahoma State was eyeing a dominant victory, but Michigan began to work its way back into the match and ended up with first sets from Piper Charney at line 5, Miller at line 1 and Brown at 4.

That still meant a three-set victory would be necessary for the Wolverines to pull off the comeback, and when Oby Kajuru, the Iowa State transfer, closed out Fliegner 6-0, 6-1, that narrowed their path even more. Oklahoma State took a 3-0 lead when Novak, who had played at line 1 for the Cowgirls last year, took out Jones 6-2, 6-4, so now Oklahoma State had to win just one of the remaining four matches to clinch the win. 

Charney put Michigan on the board with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Miyamoto at 5, and moments later Mesochoritou earned a split with Peyre at 3, giving Michigan hope. With Brown up a set and 5-1 on Carrington at 4, the Wolverines' second point seemed eminent, but she could not convert either of her match points at 5-1, double faulting on the second, and Komar had taken the second set from Miller to put Oklahoma State back in control. 

Brown could not closed out Carrington serving at 5-3, and again let two match points get away at 4-5, and they went to a second set tiebreaker.

Mesochoritou had failed to serve out her match at 5-3, but she broke Peyre serving at 4-5, while moments before, Brown had finally converted her seventh match point, in a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over Carrington. 

Meanwhile, at line 1, Komar had held on to her early break of Miller in the third set, then got a second break for a 5-2 lead and a chance to serve out the championship. She was broken without getting to match point, but Miller had to save two match points in her 3-5 service game, the first with a volley winner and the second with an unforced error on the forehand from Komar. Komar, like Carrington a transfer from LSU, could have been shaken by letting those two match points slip, but the physically imposing redshirt sophomore hit and an ace and an unreturnable serve for her first two points, and after a backhand error, blasted a forehand that forced an error from Miller. On her third match point, but the first on her serve, Komar showed she wasn't all power, putting away a tricky ball on top of the net on a ball Miller had barely managed to get back in play.

With wins over No. 6 Texas, No. 2 Stanford and No. 4 Michigan this tournament, Oklahoma State added to their already glittering resume, which also includes wins over No. 5 Pepperdine No. 12 Ohio State and No. 13 UCLA, assuring they will ascend to the No. 1 spot in the rankings. They also have all but guaranteed that they'll host a Super Regional in Stillwater, which is the site of the NCAA championships this year.

But no matter what happens in the remainder of the season, Oklahoma State is now, for the first time in program history, a national champion. 

Women's Team Indoor Final
Seattle Washington
February 12, 2024

Oklahoma State[3] 4, Michigan[4] 3

Doubles:
1. Anastasiya Komar and Ange Oby Kajuru(Okla ST) d. Jaedan Brown and Kari Miller(MICH) 6-2
2. Ayumi Miyamoto and Raquel Gonzalez(Okla ST) d. Anna Ross and Lily Jones(MICH) 6-3
3. Safiya Carrington and Kristina Novak(Okla ST) v Piper Charney and Reese Miller(MICH) 5-5, unfinished

Order of finish: 1, 2

Singles:
1. Anastasiya Komar(Okla ST) d. Kari Miller(MICH) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
2. Ange Oby Kajuru(Okla ST) d. Julia Fliegner(MICH) 6-0, 6-1
3. Gala Mesochoritou(MICH) d. Lucia Peyre(Okla ST) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. Jaedan Brown(MICH) d. Safiya Carrington(Okla ST) 6-4, 7-6(4)
5. Piper Charney(MICH) d. Ayumi Miyamoto(Okla ST) 6-3, 6-2
6. Kristina Novak(Okla ST) d. Lily Jones(MICH) 6-2, 6-4

Order of finish: 2, 6, 5, 4, 3, 1

Replays of all the Cracked Racquets Crosscourt Cast of the Women's Team Indoor matches can be found at their YouTube channel. The Men's Team Indoor begins Friday in New York, and they will also be providing coverage of that tournament.

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There were no J300s last week on the ITF Junior Circuit, but Americans did have success at two J100s.  Jagger Leach stayed in Australia after the Australia Open Junior Championships to play two J100s in Brisbane the past two weeks. He added a second title Sunday, beating the same two Australians in the semifinals and finals as he had the previous week. The top-seeded Leach defeated No. 4 seed Cruz Hewitt, Lleyton Hewitt's son, 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals and No. 11 seed Brendan Loh 1-6, 6-2, 7-6(2) in the final, with both matches played on Sunday due to rain. Leach is now at a career-high ITF junior ranking of 39.

At the J100 in Mexico, unseeded Ryan Cozad reached the singles final and won the doubles title, with regular partner Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico. The 15-year-old 2023 Orange Bowl 16s doubles champions, who were unseeded, defeated top seeds Abhinav Chunduru and Prathinav Chunduru 6-4, 7-5 in the final for their first ITF Junior Circuit title as a team. Cozad lost to No. 2 seed Glib Sekachov of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4 in the singles final.

Sophia Cedeno partnered with Maria Fuenzalida Higareda of Mexico for the girls doubles title, with the No. 5 seeds beating No. 2 seeds Nicole Okhtenberg and Mexico's Pamela Badillo Hernandez 6-1, 6-2 in the final. The 16-year-old Cedeno now has seven ITF Junior Circuit doubles titles, all with different partners.

The ITF Junior Circuit returns to the United States this week, with a J30 on indoor hard courts in Medford New Jersey. 

There are also a handful of Americans competing this week at the J300 Inka Bowl in Peru. Mayu Crossley of Japan, who recently verbally committed to UCLA, is returning to competition there for the first time since an injury took her off the circuit last August. She is the top seed.