On Saturday, Feb. 5, Kansas State tennis faced off against Arkansas in Manhattan at the Body Fit Center. The Wildcats went on to win 4-1.
K-State started the day with doubles, where freshman Florentine Dekkers and senior Ioana Gheorghita lost 6-1 in match one. In match two, the Wildcats secured a 6-2 victory from seniors Karine-Marion Job and Maria Linares from a nice serve by Job to the outside corner.
In the deciding match, freshman Dinara Alloyarova and senior Anna Turco won 6-3, gifting K-State the doubles point.
“I feel like this is the first doubles match that we really just went for it,” Linares said. “It was great the way we started because, as you know, those doubles matches are very important to win … it can be very hard to win four singles matches in a row, and it was nice to be able to let loose and play to the best of our ability and win those singles matches as well.”
Related:
Wildcats take down Texas Tech, Lee fastest to 1,500 points
In singles, Linares faced Indianna Spink of Arkansas, where Linares won 6-0, 6-4 after struggling in the second set.
On court two, Gheorghita was defeated by Arkansas’ Lenka Stara in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3.
In the third singles match, Dekkers won the first set against Kelly Keller 6-2 and the second set 6-1.
“It felt really good to win this one at home and have the support of all the girls and all the fans,” Dekkers said. “I’m really proud of the team and how we played today. We are playing very well right now, and to be able to win this one is great, especially at home.”
Alloyarova picked up the final win for the Wildcats by taking down Arkansas’ Laura Rijkers 6-3, 7-5.
Both Job and Turco finished their singles matches unfinished. Together, K-State picked up the meet win 4-1, just the second win for the Wildcats against the Razorbacks in the two teams’ 14-meet history.
The Wildcat tennis team is back in play this week against Memphis on Friday, Feb. 11, after the meet against Iowa was postponed.
