Kansas State tennis got its first taste of competition over the weekend at the Kansas Invitational where the team competed against Kansas and Iowa State.
The Wildcats found success on the first day of the invitational, recording six singles victories and four wins in doubles play.
Juniors Maria Linares and Karine-Marion Job were responsible for two victories in doubles play and both also won their singles matches on the day.
Linares defeated Kansas’ Tiffany Lagarde 6-1, 6-3 while Job earned a victory over Iowa State’s Ting-Pei Chang 7-6, 3-6, 7-5.
Freshman Manami Ukita saw victory in her debut as a Wildcat, knocking off Kansas’ Julia Deming in a three-set nail-biter, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Senior Lilla Barzó won the sixth singles match for the Wildcats, defeating Kansas’ Vasiliki Karvouni in a tough three-set bout, 7-6 (8), 2-6, 6-1.
In doubles, Linares and Job were successful against Kansas and Iowa State. They defeated Iowa State’s Chie Kezuka and Christen Hsieh, 6-1 and Kansas’ Lagarde and Sonia Smagina, 7-6 (7).
Senior Margot Decker and junior Anna Turco earned a victory against Hsieh and Kezuka from Iowa State, 6-3.
Redshirt junior Rosanna Maffei and Ukita also earned a victory with a win over Iowa State’s duo of Maty Cancini and Chang, 7-5.
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On the second day of invitational play, head coach Jordan Smith decided to mix up some doubles pairings to see how they worked together.
Barzó and Turco took down two doubles teams from Kansas, defeating Lagarde and Karvouni, 6-3 and then later on taking down Malkia Ngounoue and Smagina, 6-2.
Linares and Job claimed the third win for the Wildcats in a 6-4 victory over Iowa State’s Cancini and Hsieh.
The last doubles victory of the day came from Maffei and junior Ioana Gheorghita as they took down Smagina and Deming from Kansas in a 6-3 win.
“I liked our performance better in doubles this morning,” Smith said to K-State Sports. “We switched up our teams and created new pairings today. We were pleased to see how well the new pairs did today and we tried to control the paces in all the matches. A couple of our teams picked up great wins today.”
In singles competition, Ukita opened up the day with two victories for K-State as she took down Iowa State’s Kezuka 6-2, 6-4 and Ellie Murphy 6-2, 6-3.
Barzó claimed a win over Hsieh from Iowa State in a 6-3, 6-2 match while Gheorghita earned a two-set victory over Kansas’ Deming 6-4, 6-1. The last singles victory of the day came from Maffei as she triumphed over Kansas’ Carmen Roxana Manu in a 7-5, 6-2 win.
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The final day of the Kansas Invitational saw the Wildcats claim four more wins — two in singles and two in doubles — to round out their campaign. With the wins, the Wildcats ended the weekend with 13 singles victories and 10 in doubles.
The 13 singles victories are the most for K-State at a fall tournament since the ITA Central Regional Championship last year.
Maffei claimed her fourth win of the weekend with a singles victory over the Jayhawks’ Lagarde in a tough three-set battle, eventually winning 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Job also had a victorious weekend, taking down Iowa State’s Murphy 6-4, 6-3 to claim her fifth victory on the weekend.
Job and Gheorghita secured a win over the Cyclone team of Cancini and Chang 6-2. Barzó and Ukita also took down Kansas’ Lagarde and Manu in a 6-4 win.
Other Wildcats involved in Sunday’s action included Decker, Linares and Turco.
Decker fell in a two-set match to Iowa State’s Kezuka, 2-6, 4-6. An injury plagued Linares’ match with KU’s Carmen Manu, and she pulled out of the match trailing 4-6, 1-3. Turco grabbed a win in the second set with Kansas’ Karvouni but ended her day with a three-set loss, 3-6, 6-1, 2-6.
The Wildcats have a four-week break before the K-State Fall Invitational Oct. 30 through Nov. 1. They will play conference rivals Kansas and Iowa State at the invitational.
