Jayhawk Newcomers Claim First Victories in Day One of Invite

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Kansas women’s tennis opened its spring 2014 season with the debut of two freshmen in the lineup at the Purdue Invitational.  Freshmen Morgan Barnhill and Caroline Henderson shined in the start of their collegiate career as each picked up their first win as a Jayhawk in the Schwartz Tennis Center, Friday.

Henderson’s first collegiate win came from Romona Costea of Miami of Ohio in a super tiebreaker. In the first set, Henderson fell to Costea 6-7 (2-7) but bounced back into contention taking her 6-2 and then 10-7 in the second set and super tiebreaker.

“Caroline Henderson finished the match off,” said Head Coach Todd Chapman. “She won the fourth match, in a super tie breaker and in a pressure situation. That was good to see in her first college match. I was excited about that.” 

Barnhill claimed her first collegiate victory with doubles partner Claire Dreyer, prevailing over Nicole Robinson and Andjela Djokovic of Purdue, 6-1.

The Jayhawks played Louisville and Purdue in doubles and Miami of Ohio in singles on Friday.  In doubles play against Louisville, Maria Jose Cardona and Maria Belen Ludueña were able to snag two sets from the No. 2 doubles team in the nation, Manuela Velasquez and Rebecca Shine, but fell 6-2 to the Cardinal duo. Claire Dreyer and Anastasija Trubica were the only KU doubles team to claim victory, downing Olivia Boesing and Cassie Pough, 6-1. But in the end, Louisville’s Julie Fellerhoff and Elle Stokes defeated Paulina Los and Barnhill, 6-3, giving the Cardinals the upper-hand.

Next, KU took on Purdue on its home court in three doubles matches.  With a 6-1 win, Barnhill claimed her first collegiate match win with Dreyer as her partner over Robinson and Djokovic.  Los and Henderson fell to Lynda Xepoleas and Daniela Vidal (6-1) and Luduena and Cardona were defeated by Mara Schmidt and Krisztina Kapitany in a tiebreaker , 7-6 (7-3).

“It’s just tough when you’re playing a good team and you need to win two out of three and you get one,” said Chapman. “So, I was disappointed at that part but I thought we played well in three doubles.In Purdue, we lost the deciding match in a tiebreaker against a good team. I was disappointed we lost that but not disappointed in the effort. The effort was good.”

Kansas found its most success in singles match-action in the afternoon against Miami of Ohio. Kansas led Miami 4-2 in singles, including Henderson’s first victory over Costea. Cardona topped Miami’s Christina Raymond (6-1, 6-0) and Luduena defeated Christine Guerazzi (6-2, 6-3). Los also nabbed a win over Alix Thurman in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3. Dreyer fell to Andreea Badileanu in a tiebreaker and super tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 10-5 and Trubica was defeated by Nimisha Mohan, 6-3, 7-5.

“In the singles, I thought we did a great job in competing and we didn’t give any matches away,” said Chapman. “The two matches we lost, [Miami of Ohio] had to work hard to earn them. That’s all I ask of them is to give us a chance to win. I felt like they did that.”

The Jayhawks will continue their hidden dual matches on Saturday, beginning with doubles vs. Miami of Ohio followed by singles matches with Louisville and Purdue. Following the format of a hidden dual, the completion of tomorrow’s matches will reveal a winner for each dual.

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