Cowgirl tennis’ transfer-built team ‘I haven’t been this excited about a roster in a while’team

Payton Little Staff Reporter

As students’ schedules wound down, OSU women’s tennis coach Chris Young’s schedule was just getting started.

Tennis season may have ended sooner than the Cowgirls anticipated, but they wasted no time in locking and loading for the next year. Coming off a fourth-place Big 12 finish and NCAA Tournament appearance, the Cowgirls have big goals with the national championship being hosted in Stillwater in the 2023-24 season.

The loss of critical seniors Alana Wolfberg and Martina Zerulo left gaps that needed filling, yet OSU found its answer quickly. The first of three transfers to commit to OSU was senior Safiya Carrington.

Young heavily recruited Carrington before her time at LSU, but better late than never.

Carrington brings with her 2021 and 2022 All-SEC honors as well as an 8-4 singles record in 2023. Carrington likely provide more depth in the upper to middle courts and add a plethora of experience to an already seasoned roster.

“Once we got her locked in, that was a really big piece of the puzzle for us,” Young said. “Just someone with experience, and with us hosting next year, we wanted an older kid.”

Next up was former Iowa State Cyclone, Ange Oby Kajuru. Staying within the conference, the junior packs tremendous firepower with a 40-13 career singles record. With the high level of success seen by Japanese players at OSU, such as Lisa Marie Rioux and Ayumi Miyamoto, Kajuru felt a level of comfort when deciding on her future destination.

“For us having a good presence from Japan, that was really important the first time I talked to her,” Young said. “I also had a conversation the first night she was in the portal with her mom, and her mom was really just wanting her to consider a school that had Japanese players on roster.”

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