April 21, 2008

Manhattan, KS (UWIRE) -- It was a big weekend for Kansas State women's tennis. Faced with an opportunity to improve their ranking before the Big 12 tournament, the Wildcats recorded a big win over Iowa State on Friday but fell at Nebraska, Sunday, in successive matches.

The match against the Cyclones was a triumph for the Wildcats, as the team notched its first shutout since Feb. 9 with a 7-0 win. Then K-State was limited to winning just the doubles point in the Nebraska match, losing 6-1.

The sweep against Iowa State was even more impressive as the Wildcats (7-13, 3-8) overcame early deficits to take control of the match.

"From my perspective when we started the match it was extremely even," said coach Steve Bietau. "... Then all three courts pulled away, it was then 5-2 on all three courts. And they really never looked back from that point on. So I thought it was a really good effort on the part of our team, they took control of the match early on and never relinquished it."

Senior Viviana Yrureta and sophomore Natasha Vieira paced the doubles effort from the No. 3 spot with an 8-3 win over Liza Wischer and Reka Keleman. Freshmen Antea Huljev and Vanessa Cottin followed that up with an 8-4 victory against Alyssa Palen and Caitlin Loprinzi. Senior Olga Klimova and junior Katerina Kudlackova's 8-5 win over Kara Hickey and Chrissy Derouin capped the victory.

The solid play carried over into the singles portion of the match. Yrureta quickly dispatched Erin Karonis 6-3, 6-1. Kudlackova recorded her first victory since Feb. 16 with a 7-5, 6-2 win. All other Wildcats were victorious.

The day was especially memorable for Yrureta and Klimova, who participated in their final home matches. Klimova was held out of singles play because of ongoing soreness in her knee. Klimova said she wished she would have had the opportunity to play singles but was pleased with the day's results.

"It will always be a good memory," she said. "It was kind of emotional in the beginning with the ceremony and we had no people here, and then we get to play doubles and we captured the doubles point. I was disappointed that he didn't let me play in singles, but it was awesome and it was a winning day."

The results were marginally comparable to the match against the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's No. 67-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers. Strong doubles play led the Wildcats to capture the doubles point for the second straight match. Vieira and Yrureta topped Amber Chandronnait and Wiveca Swarting 8-4. Cottin and Huljev also won, beating Stephanie Evans and Maria Ring, 9-8 (6).

All Wildcats six singles players lost by different margins.

K-State is now set for the Big 12 Tournament, which begins Thursday in College Station, Texas. The 10th-seeded Wildcats are anticipated to once again face Nebraska at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

(C) 2008 Kansas State Collegian via UWIRE