The No. 53 Kansas State tennis team finished its spring 2022 regular season against the No. 29 Kansas Jayhawks in the Sunflower Showdown, falling 4-0 in the rivalry match-up.
Despite losing the day, the Wildcats did pull away with one match. Seniors Maria Linares and Karine-Marion Job took their doubles match, defeating Raphaelle Lacasse and Sonia Smagina, 6-2.
Sophomore Manami Ukita and senior Ioana Gheorghita played as the No. 2 doubles for the Wildcats, falling to Maria Titova and Roxana Manu, 6-1.
The point for doubles came down to the final match-up, as freshmen Anna Turco and Florentine Dekkers faced off against Malkia Ngounoue and Julia Deming. The set came to a close end, but the Jayhawks prevailed, winning the set 7-6.
Related:
Baseball drops finale to Texas, takes series victory
In the first singles match to finish, Job fell to Ngounoue 6-1, 6-4, giving the Jayhawks their second point.
Dekkers battled in the third match to finish, losing each set to Smagina 6-4, 6-4, bringing Kansas one point away from the win.
In the final singles match to finish, Turco went up against Jayhawk Tiffany Lagarde. After losing the first set 6-3, Turco took the second set 6-1, setting up a third set. Turco could not defeat Lagarde, losing 6-2 as the Jayhawks took the rivalry.
Gheorghita and Manu could not finish off a close battle. Gheorghita took the first set in tiebreaker 7-6 as Manu won the second set 6-4. Gheorghita had a 3-2 lead in the third set as the match was called off.
The Wildcats now wait until April 21 for the 2022 Big 12 Tennis Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, hosted by TCU. The Wildcats finished the regular season with a 9-12 record, 1-8 against the Big 12.
