After back-to-back losses, the Kansas State tennis team defeated No. 68 Nebraska 4-1 on March 2 in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Starting off in doubles, the first match to finish was freshman Florentine Dekkers and senior Ioana Gheorghita against the Cornhusker’s Kristina Novak and Maja Makoric. Dekkers and Gheorghita fell 6-1, with Nebraska winning the first match.
The second match was seniors Karine-Marion Job and Maria Linares against Ellie Kuckelman and Samantha Alicea. Job and Linares were able to even off the contest for the doubles point 6-4, placing freshman Dinara Alloyarova and senior Anna Turco in a position to secure the Wildcats the doubles point.
The freshman-senior duo finished off the doubles contest, winning the doubles point by beating Chloe Kuckelman and Isabel A. Gallego 6-3.
The Wildcats then carried their success from the doubles matches into the singles matches.
Linares was the first player to finish her match, only conceding one game to Gallego, winning 6-1, 6-0, and giving K-State its second point.
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Senior Rosanna Maffei’s match was the second singles match to end. Maffei faced off against Kuckelman, losing 6-1, 6-2, resulting in Nebraska’s only point of the day.
Following up the second match to finish, Gheorghita won her match with her two sets resulting in the same score of 6-2, 6-2 against Alicea, giving K-State its third point.
Securing the victory on the day was Job in a match against Novak. Job fell in the first set 6-4 before tying it up with a 6-3 set victory, sending the match into the third and final set. Job continued her success in the final set, defeating Novak 6-2 and giving the Wildcats the team win.
Dekkers’ was unable to finish her match, which was going into the third set after she lost the first set to Makoric 7-6, but took the second set 7-5 in the close match. Turco’s match against Jillian Roa was also stopped after she lost the first set 6-4 but was one game away from winning the second set at 5-3.
The Wildcats return from their road stretch with matches on back-to-back days on March 4 and 5, facing off against Iowa and No. 42 ranked Northwestern. The team currently stands with a 5-3 record before the weekend matches.
