Iowa State Cyclones:
The Kansas State tennis team nearly made a comeback from down 3-0 against No. 33-ranked Iowa State on Friday, April 1. The Wildcats lost to the Cyclones in a 4-2 battle.
The two teams started off the day playing each other in doubles. The No.1 doubles match was the first to finish, as seniors Karine-Marion Job and Maria Linares fell to Thasaporn Naklo and Christin Hsieh, 6-2.
Freshman Dinara Alloyarova and sophomore Manami Ukita played against Ange Kajuru and Chie Kezuka in the second match to finish. The Cyclones took the match 6-2, giving themselves the first point of the day.
Freshman Florentine Dekkers and senior Ioana Gheorghita could not finish their match against Miska Kadleckova and Sofia Cabezas, as the match ended with the Cyclone duo up 5-2.
Heading into singles, the Cyclones continued taking the first points of the day. Ukita faced off against Kezuka in the first match, losing 6-0, 6-1, as the Cyclones’ dominance continued.
Job then finished her match, losing 6-1, 6-2, against Kanjuru, giving the Cyclones their 3-0 lead on the day.
The Wildcats finally took their first point of the day after falling down 3-0. Linares faced off against Thasaporn, defeating her 6-4, 6-3, providing a spark for the Wildcats.
After not playing a doubles match, freshman Anna Turco took down Cabezas 6-4, 6-3, giving the Wildcats a chance at a comeback.
However, the comeback was prevented in the end. Dekkers faced off against Kadleckova, losing the first set 6-3. Dekkers took the second set to a tiebreaker with Kadleckova, but lost the tiebreaker 6-1, losing the set 7-6.
Gheorghita could not finish her match against Supapitch Kuearum but was in the lead in the second set, 4-3, after taking the first set, 7-5.
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West Virginia Mountaineers:
After losing on Saturday, the Wildcats went into their Senior Day on Sunday, April 3, against the West Virginia Mountaineers. The Senior Day led to the Wildcats’ third sweep of the season, taking down West Virginia 4-0.
The Wildcats lost the first doubles match, as Dekkers and Gheorghita faced off against Momoko Nagato and Kendall Kovick, falling 6-4.
The next two doubles matches, similar to the first match, both came to a close score. The second match to end was with the doubles duo of Job and Linares. They took down Camilla Bossi and Ting-Pei Chang 6-4, sending the doubles point to a final match.
The final doubles match came down to a tiebreaker as Alloyarova and Ukita were tied up with Anastasia Bovolskaia and Tatiana Lipatov, 6-6. The Wildcats prevailed, winning the tiebreaker 7-4, the match 7-6 and earning their first point.
Heading into singles, the Wildcats kept the Mountaineers even further away. The first match to finish was between Job and Bovolskaia. Job took the two sets 6-1, 6-2, giving the Wildcats their second point.
After Job won, her doubles partner Linares earned the third point, defeating Kovick 6-2, 6-0.
Ending the day, Turco took the final point for the Wildcats. Facing off against Lipatova, Turco took the first set 6-4, finishing it off 6-3 and giving the Wildcats a sweep on Senior Day.
The three other singles matches were all left unfinished. Senior Rosanna Maffei took the first set against Bossi 6-4 and was close to winning the second set, as she led 5-1.
Doubles partners Dekkers and Gheorghita also took their first sets, as Dekkers led Chang 6-3, 4-4, and Gheorghita led Momoko Nagato 7-5, 3-3.
The Wildcats enter their last three regular-season matches of the season with a 9-9 record on the road, facing off against ranked Big 12 opponents in Baylor, Texas and Kansas.
