Freshmen Key 4-3 Win Over Houston for KU Tennis
March 5, 2011
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
In her first collegiate start, freshman Amy Barnthouse won big, downing Houston’s Jo Garvey 6-2, 6-2 to not only capture her first career win, but clinch a 4-3 win for the Jayhawks.
The win was KU’s second-straight and third in the last four matches, and improved the Jayhawks’ spring record to 4-4, while Houston dropped to 6-5.
Barnthouse, a local product out of Kansas City’s Notre Dame de Sion and the daughter of former KU tennis player Joe Barnthouse, played in just one fall match, the KU Invitational I, and lost in straight sets. After not suiting up for competitive action since September, Barnthouse was inserted into the starting lineup in place of Monica Pezzotti, who was out sick, in the No. 6 singles position.
With the two teams equal at three wins apiece, the match was in the hands of the freshman, who shrugged off the pressure en route to a straight-set win.
“For her to have clinched the match, that’s pretty impressive,” said head coach Amy-Hall Holt. “With her staying calm and just going after it, that’s what we need. Our players that haven’t played much, we still have to keep them positive and reinforce it that at any given time anybody could step in and she did that today.”
KU pulled ahead early by winning the doubles point, but quickly fell behind as Erin Wilbert, Dylan Windom and Victoria Khanevskaya all suffered losses in the Nos. 3-5 positions.
Ekaterina Morozova kept KU in the hunt with an easy 6-1, 6-0 victory over Bryony Hunter in the No. 1 match. With the Jayhawks down by one at 3-2, Paulina Los blanked Giorgia Pazzan in the first set of the second singles match and pulled ahead to a 3-0 lead in set two. But Pazzan roared back to overtake Los 6-4 and force a third set.
But Los led right from the beginning, going up 5-0 before Pazzan finally won a game. But Los wasted no time putting the match away. Los tied the match at three for KU, pulling out her second-straight extra-set win in as many matches, defeating Giorgia Pozzan 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 in No 2 singles, much to the dismay of a heated Pazzan. The Cougar player slammed her racket into the curtain, which caused the official to charge her with a violation.
With the Pazzan’s match not in play, the violation was automatically charged to Garvey, who was down 4-1 to Barnthouse in the first set. But Barnthouse would not need the advantage, as Los’ win was enough motivation to get her past her opponent, 6-2, in the first set.
“When Paulina won, It put a little bit of pressure on me, just because I knew everything was on me,” Barnthouse said. “But at the same time, it gave me a little more motivation to really fight hard and try and pull out the win.”
Barnthouse again went ahead of Garvey in the second set, this time 4-0, before Garvey rallied back to push the score to 5-2.
“She started playing better in the second set so I had to step it up a little bit,” Barnthouse said.
But Pazzan’s rally ended when Barnthouse won the next game, solidifying the win for the Jayhawks.
“I’m pretty happy with it. It feels very good,” Barnthouse said. “I didn’t even know that I was going to be playing this morning, so I was a little nervous at the beginning of the match. But the coaches just came to me and said to keep it in play and make safe targets. That’s just what I tried to do the whole match and it ended up working out.”
“Amy is a freshman, but she has a good game,” Hall-Holt said. “I’m very excited for her as well as I am for the team. We have been battling some unfortunate situations here lately, so her stepping up was pretty impressive.
The Jayhawks will continue weekend action Sunday against fellow Central Region member Saint Louis, with the sixth of seven straight home matches slated for 11 a.m., at the Jayhawk Tennis Center.
Kansas 4, Houston 3
March 5, 2011 — Lawrence, Kan.
Jayhawk Tennis Center
DOUBLES
No. 1 Morozova/Windom (KU) def. Hunter/Garvey (HU) 8-6
No. 2 Barnthouse/Windom (KU) dnf. Pozzan/Sanders (HU) 7-6
No. 3 Khanevskaya/Los (KU) def. Kacprzyk/Kazimeiruk (HU) 8-3
Order of finish: 3, 1
SINGLES
No. 1 Ekaterina Morozova (KU) def. Bryony Hunter (HU) 6-1, 6-0
No. 2 Paulina Los (KU) def. Giorgia Pozzan (HU) 6-0, 4-6, 6-1
No. 3 Maja Kazimieruk (HU) def. Erin Wilbert (KU) 6-2, 6-4
No. 4 Joanna Kacprzyk (HU) def. Dylan Windom (KU) 6-4, 6-3
No. 5 Dionne Sanders (HU) def. Victoria Khanevskaya (KU) 6-4, 6-3
No. 6 Amy Barnthouse (KU) def. Jo Garvey (HU) 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 3, 4, 5, 2, 6
Team Records: Kansas (4-4); Houston (6-5)
