The Kansas State women’s tennis team ended its five-match losing streak on March 26 against the No. 41 Tulsa Golden Hurricanes in a 4-2 victory.
The Wildcats started off the day behind. Seniors Karine-Marion Job and Maria Linares lost to Tulsa’s Valeryia Rozenkova and Maria Berlanga 6-2 in the first doubles match to finish.
Tulsa proceeded to take the first point of the day in doubles as Laia Conde Monfort and Shura Poppe defeated freshman Florentine Dekkers and senior Ioana Gheorghita, 6-4, finishing the doubles matches for the day.
Freshman Dinara Alloyarova and sophomore Manami Ukita could not finish their match against Lily Hutchings and Ana Naranjo Martinez, which ended at 5-5.
In singles, the Wildcats started by putting themselves further behind. Ukita faced off against Hutchings, losing 6-1, 6-3, as the Golden Hurricanes took their second — but final — point of the match.
The first point of the day for the Wildcats was earned by Dekkers. Playing against Berlanga, the first set came close to entering a tiebreaker, but Dekkers finished the set 7-5. The second set wasn’t as close (6-2) as the Wildcats started their comeback.
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Tying the team score 2-2 was Linares in her match against Monfort. Each set came close in score, as Linares defeated Monfort in each set, 6-4.
After Linares tied the day, fellow senior Anna Turco gave the Wildcats their first lead. Facing off against Lian Benedejcic, Turco won the first set 6-3, before taking the third point for the Wildcats, winning the second set in a closer 6-4 set.
Finishing off the day was the only match to complete three whole sets. In her match against Rozenkova, Gheorghita took the lead in a close first set, winning 7-5. After a close first set, Rozenkova took the second set in a less competitive second set, 6-1. Entering the third set, Gheorghita flipped the result of the previous set, winning 6-1 and grabbing the Wildcats’ first victory since March 4.
Job’s match was unable to finish against Poppe as the score stood at 7-5, 3-6, 3-3.
The Wildcats’ victory is their second victory of the season against a ranked opponent and places them at a 7-8 record. After a Sunday match against Wichita State, they head back into Big 12 play for the rest of the season.
