Kansas State tennis competed for the first time at home this season, following a 1-9 start on the road.
The Wildcats started their homestand against the University of Missouri-Kansas City Roos and saw a 4-0 victory. Junior Aleen Quamar’s performance highlighted the day by earning the first of K-State’s singles points without losing a set, going 6-0, 6-0.
The doubles performance against the Roos was another highlight as two new duos gave K-State the doubles point. Sophomore Florentine Dekkers and Quamar swept their opponents 6-0. Freshman Vanesa Suarez and junior Manami Ukita also knotted a win in 6-3 fashion.
Ukita joined Quamar by grabbing K-State’s second singles point with a 6-2, 6-2 finish. Freshman Rozalia Gruszczynska was responsible for the last single point, going 6-1, 6-2.
Dekkers and Suarez were both favored in their matches that were left unfinished.
After the hot 4-0 start to the homestand, momentum began to fade against the Wichita State Shockers who defeated the Wildcats 4-3.
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K-State earned the double point early on, courtesy of Suarez and Ukita winning their match 6-3 followed by Dekkers and Quamar outlasting their Shocker opponents 6-5.
In the singles, Wichita State and K-State split the first four finished matches. This saw K-State with a slight 3-2 lead. Dekkers won 6-4, 6-4 to earn her singles point while Ukita went 7-5, 6-0. K-State’s first two losses came from Gruszczynska, 4-6, 3-6, and Suarez, 4-6, 2-6.
K-State just needed one more single point to seal a second win on the homestand; however, the Shockers came back. Quamar fell 6-4, 3-6, 1-6, and senior Rosanna Maffei became the Wildcats last chance. Maffei battled, but lost 2-6, 6-7 in a second-set tiebreaker.
Big 12 play will begin next week for the Wildcats with two matches on the road. First against No. 54 West Virginia at 4 p.m. on Friday, March 10, followed by a match on Sunday, March 12, against No. 4 Iowa State.
