Cowgirls Tennis Picks Up Two Talented Transfers in Epps and Lopez

(This story originated with Oklahoma State University Athletic Media Relations and was written by Hayden Simmons with Pokes Report’s publisher Robert Allen contributing.)

STILLWATER- Oklahoma State’s women’s tennis team has added Marcela Lopez and Gracie Epps to its roster for the 2024-25 season. Both are transfers from Power Four schools. Epps is a native Oklahoman.

University of Utah Athletics

Lopez

Lopez, a Frisco, Texas native, joins the Cowgirls as a transfer from Utah fresh off a selection to the All-Pac 12 Second Team. The sophomore went 9-9 in singles and 10-6 in doubles playing primarily at the No. 1 position for the Utes.

As a freshman, Lopez was named the ITA Mountain Region Freshman of the Year and earned Pac-12 honorable mention honors, going 15-5 in singles at the No. 5 position and 14-7 in doubles at the No. 3 position.

Coming out of high school, Lopez was a five-star recruit, ranking 34th nationally and 3rd in the state of Texas while reaching as high as No. 545 in the ITF junior

University of Utah Athletics

Lopez in action at Utah.

rankings. She was the highest-ranked American recruit that Utah had landed since 2015. Ranked internationally and was ranked as high as #545 in the International Tennis Federation junior rankings. In 2021 at the ITF J4 Cancun, she earned a runner-up finish in singles and helped make it to the semifinals in doubles. Also participated in both the ITF J4 Atlanta and ITF J4 Jalisco where she advanced to the semifinals in singles, while also advancing to the quarterfinals in doubles. Lopez won the L2 National Championships in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She followed that result with a final 32 showing at the prestigious National Clay Court Championships

University of Georgia Athletics

Epps at Georgia

Joining the Cowgirls as a transfer from Georgia, Epps is a former blue-chip prospect and ranked as the No. 4 American in the class of 2023. The Norman, Oklahoma, native went 3-2 in singles and 1-2 in doubles during her freshman season with the Bulldogs. Her three singles wins came against South Carolina, Ohio State, and Alabama.

Epps ranked as the No. 1 American in her class in 2019 and finished her high school career ranked No. 4. She reached No. 80 in the ITF junior rankings. She is a two-time singles champion of the Grade 3 Cancun tournament and trained at the RH91 Tennis Center under former national champion Matias Marin. Epps attended and graduated from the Epic Charter School and is a strong student. 

Vype Oklahoma

Gracie Epps.

She also has dabbled in modeling and this picture appeared in the Oklahoma Vyper magazine. 

The pair of talented transfers join an Oklahoma State roster under head coach Chris Young that returns its top three singles players in Anastasia Komar, Ange Oby Kajuru and Lucia Peyre, as well as its top doubles pairing in Komar and Kajuru. The Cowgirls will enter 2025 looking to defend their ITA Indoor National Championship and Big 12 regular season and tournament titles.