Kansas Completes Day Two of Purdue Invitational

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — With day one of the Purdue Invitational under its belt, the Kansas women’s tennis team returned to match-action for day two in the Schwartz Tennis Center, equipped with a ferociousness that Head Coach Todd Chapman was looking for.

“I definitely thought we showed some toughness and discipline that we haven’t shown in other times this year,” said Chapman. “That was great to see and that was one of the things we’ve been talking about all year. Showing that makes me really excited for the rest of the season.”

In addition to returning to the court with a new degree of toughness, the Jayhawks swept Miami of Ohio in doubles and won three matches against nationally-ranked Louisville in singles. But KU showed determination against No. 27 Purdue in singles, something that coach Chapman had been looking for.

To open day two, Kansas met Miami of Ohio for the second half of its hidden dual: doubles. Maria Jose Cardona and Maria Belen Ludueña ran past Miami’s Christine Gueratti and Andrea Badileanu with a 6-3 win. On courts two and three, Paulina Los with partner Anastasija Trubica defeated Christiana Raymond and Ramona Costea (6-3) while the freshman duo of Morgan Barnhill and Caroline Henderson prevailed over Nimisha Mohan and Diana Suarez (6-4).

“It was a really long day,” said Chapman. “We’ve been going at it for about 14 hours. This morning against Miami of Ohio, I thought we did a good job coming out and controlling the match early. We got up in all three matches pretty quick and did a pretty good job closing things out so I was happy with the energy we started with. That was our big thing after coming from a long day yesterday.”

Next up, Kansas continued with singles against the home team of Purdue. Ludueña stepped up against No. 110 Mara Schmidt and prevailed in a tough tiebereaker (4-6, 6-2, 12-10). Lynda Xepoleas defeated Cardona (6-4, 6-4) while Daniela Vidal defeated Paulina Los (6-2, 6-3). Claire Dreyer joined Luduena with a win over Nicole Robinson (4-6, 6-3, 11-9), while Trubica fell to Tess Benard-Feigenbaum (6-3, 7-5) and Henderson was defeated by Krisztina Kapitany (6-2, 6-2)

“Against Purdue was the toughest I’ve seen our team play all year in any type of situation,” said Chapman.  “I was really pleased with how hard we fought. We lost 4-2 to a top-30 team in the country.”

To finish the grueling day, the Jayhawks met the Cardinals for a round of singles. Louisville came out first with wins in both the No. 1 and No. 2 courts as Julia Fellerhoff downed Cardona (6-1, 6-1) and Rebecca Shine defeated Ludueña (6-1, 6-0). Despite losses on courts one and two, three Jayhawks, Los, Dreyer and Trubica were victorious. Los easily defeated Elle Stokes (6-4, 6-0) and Claire Dreyer fought until the end of a super tiebreaker to top Manuela Velaquez, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7). Trubica took Rebecca Bodine to a tiebreaker, where she led 4-0 until Bodine had to leave due to a leg injury. Caroline Henderson fell to Olivia Boesing in a hard-fought match that was decided by a super tiebreaker (4-6, 7-5 (10-5).

“I’ll give Louisville credit, they played really well,” said Chapman. “We just couldn’t seem to make anything work and find ways to get into the match. We had a tough time competing at the level we needed to compete. We’ll get that changed and we’ll get that fixed. I know the girls will show up with even more fight in the future. Paulina Los played a really good match and Claire Dreyer played another tough match just as she has all weekend. Anastasija Trubica really came through for us tonight.”

In the last day of the Purdue Invitational, the Jayhawks will take on Miami of Ohio in singles on Sunday morning as an additional Sunday match that is not included in the hidden dual format.

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