OU's Corley sisters grew up as tennis underdogs. Now, they're just a win away from NCAA Final Four.
Ivana and Carmen Corley learned to stick with it.
The two sisters are a dominant duo for the No. 2-ranked Oklahoma women's tennis team. They're ranked as the 10th-best duo in the nation, and they're the stars of a Sooners squad that'll face No. 7-ranked Texas A&M at 4 p.m. Friday in the NCAA quarterfinals in Champaign, Illinois.
But tennis wasn't the first sport of choice for Ivana and Carmen, who were self-proclaimed quitters while growing up.
The Corley house was a museum of forgotten sports. Soccer balls. Basketballs. Outfits for karate and ballet. Each artifact was a reminder of the sport Ivana and Carmen would play for a few weeks at a time before growing tired of it.
Tennis became the latest sport to join that list when Ivana was 7 years old and Carmen was five.
The two sisters urged their mother, Maria, to buy them equipment. From rackets to tennis bags, the sport came with a considerable price tag.
Maria obliged just like she always did, but there was a catch this time. Ivana and Carmen had to stick with tennis for 90 days whether they loved it or hated it.
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"If you don't like it, I'm still going to drag you out to practice," Maria recalls warning her two oldest daughters.
"We're going to love it," Ivana and Carmen replied.
They were wrong.
Ivana and Carmen began playing tennis in June in their hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, which can reach temperatures of nearly 100 degrees during that time of year.
It didn't take long for them to regret their decision.
"It was super hot, it was miserable and we hated it," Carmen said. "It was like that from the first day. We hated it."
Every day the two sisters would cry as their mother drove them to the tennis court for practice.
Every day they would cry on the drive back home.
"We want to quit," they would plead to their mother. "Please. Please."
But their mother never budged.
"It was a whole summer of misery," Maria said.
Tennis got more bearable by about the second month. Still, Ivana and Carmen were convinced that they'd never touch a racket once their three-month sentence concluded.
But the final month proved to be enjoyable for the two sisters, who opted to begin competing. That was a test in its own right.
The two sisters lost just about every match in their first year as they struggled to gain their footing in the new sport.
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"We were playing tournaments and just getting beat," Ivana said. "My dad always tells us now that during that year of losing he would look at my mom every other day and tell her that we needed to find a different sport."
But Ivana and Carmen's days of quitting were behind them.
Wins slowly became more common than losses, and their love for tennis began to grow.
"We practiced for a year and we lost for a year, but then we started to see some success," Carmen said. "I don't know why we stuck with it. Once we started to see some payoff, I think we were like, 'OK, we like this.'"
Ivana and Carmen began competing in national tournaments when they were in middle school, and they also thrived at the high school level.
Ivana graduated from Eldorado High School in 2018 as a five-star recruit and the top prospect in New Mexico. She won the state title for 2015 singles, 2016 singles and 2017 doubles.
Ivana had her sights set on top schools such as Texas Tech, which was fresh off a 2017 Big 12 title.
OU, which wasn't ranked in the top 40 at the time, wasn't on her radar. But that changed thanks in part to Amy Sargeant.
Ivana received private training from Sargeant, who was an assistant coach at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Sargeant then became an assistant coach at OU in 2016 and urged Ivana to consider the Sooners.
A few visits to Norman were all it took for Ivana to commit. She bought into an OU program that didn't have much recent success but instead had a culture she resonated with.
"I was able to build history in New Mexico as an underdog," Ivana said. "I'd go to tournaments and people didn't even know that New Mexico was a state. Coming to OU, I thought it was really fitting that I'd continue that tradition of building something and starting something new.
"I wanted to do that when I came to OU. I wanted to be a part of history and be a part of something special."
Carmen graduated early from Eldorado the following year after making history of her own.
She was ranked as the top recruit in New Mexico, and she won the 2019 USTA Southwest Closed Regional Tournament without dropping a set.
Everyone assumed Carmen would join Ivana at OU, including other programs.
"I wanted to be with Ivana, but I also didn't want to choose OU because of that," Carmen said. "It was funny because on half of my recruiting calls I would pick up the phone and be like, 'Hi, how are you?' And the coaches would say, 'Are you going to OU or not?'"
Unsure what to do, Carmen made a pros and cons list. The pros of committing to OU outweighed the cons, and she committed in 2019.
The two sisters were reunited, and yet they faced uncharted territory.
Despite developing a love for the sport together during those summer days in Albuquerque, Ivana and Carmen rarely played doubles together.
The United States Tennis Association splits its junior players into four age divisions: 12, 14, 16 and 18. Because of their two-year age gap, Ivana and Carmen were unable to play alongside each other.
But that changed in their first season together at OU. Head coach Audra Cohen paired the two sisters up in doubles at the No. 1 line prior to the start of the 2019-20 campaign.
"We knew how good we could be together, but we hadn't really gotten to experience that yet," Ivana said. "I think it was a bit of an adjustment for us."
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The adjustment process didn't take long for the Corley sisters, who are complete opposites on the court.
Ivana is calm and composed on the court. Even in high-pressure situations, she comes across as relaxed.
Carmen wears her heart on her sleeve. She's bold and intense, which is evident when she plays.
It's these differences that the two sisters have turned into strengths. They describe themselves as "Yin and Yang," finding balance when on the court together.
"It seems like what one of us lacks, the other one makes up for," Ivana said. "That kind of falls into our ability and our game."
That chemistry translated into a 10-0 doubles record before the season was cut short due to pandemic.
Ivana and Carmen then posted a 27-3 doubles record in the 2020-21 season. They peaked as the No. 11-ranked duo in the nation on March 30, 2021, which marked the highest-ranked doubles team in program history at the time.
The Corley sisters then entered this season as the top duo in the nation. Now ranked 10th, they boast a 26-7 record after beating Stanford on May 13 in OU's first Sweet 16 appearance in program history.
That is exactly the kind of success Ivana hoped to build when she committed in 2017. Doing so with Carmen by her side only makes the journey more meaningful.
"We're so busy in the moment and just going day by day that you almost don't realize how special it is," Ivana said. "But it really is just special."
Justin Martinez can be reached at jmartinez@oklahoman.com or @JTheSportsDude on Twitter. Make sure to subscribe to The Oklahoman to stay up to date with all local sports.
NCAA women's tennis quarterfinals
NO. 2 OU VS. NO. 7 TEXAS A&M: 4 p.m. Friday at Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign, Illinois
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU women's tennis can reach NCAA Final Four with win vs. Texas A&M
