No. 4 Jayhawks fall to No. 5 Baylor, 4-2
AUSTIN, Texas – The No. 4-seeded Kansas women’s tennis team’s run at the Big 12 Championship ended after a, 4-2, quarterfinal loss to No. 5 Baylor Friday at the Texas Tennis Center in Austin, Texas.
After the match, KU is now 15-6 on the season and the Bears moved to 17-12.
On court one, Nina Khmelntickaia and Tatiana Nikolaeva were not able to find their grove against Theresa Van Zyl and Jessica Hinojosa, falling, 6-3, in the first set.
Despoina Vogasari and Maria Toran Ribes battled back from being down, 3-1, at the No. 3 spot to bring their match at 5-5 and pull away opposite of Angie Shakhraichuk and Kris Sorokolet for a, a 7-5, win.
Janet Koch and Amber Policare took an early, 3-1, lead over Dominika Sujova and Giorgia Testa before the Bears came back to tie it and ultimately force a tiebreaker at the No. 2 position. In the breaker, Sujova and Testa topped the Jayhawks, 7-2, to win the match and take the doubles point for Baylor.
“Credit to Baylor,” said head coach Todd Chapman. “They came out and established good momentum in the doubles. I felt like we dug ourselves holes all day. We always respond so I knew there would be a response, but we just dug too many holes. Against a top-25 program like Baylor that’s going to come back to bite you and it did in the end for us.”
Nikolaeva was not able to overcome Livia Kraus on court five, falling, 6-1, 6-0, to the the Bear and giving them a 2-0 lead.
Toran Ribes cruised by Kris Sorokolet in the first set, 6-1, at the No. 4 spot. With the second set tied at 3-3, Toran Ribes won three-straight games to win it, 6-3, and put the Jayhawks on the board, trailing, 2-1.
At the top spot, No. 63 Vogasari tied her first set with Theresa Van Zyl, 2-2, and then took four-consecutive games for a, 6-2, win. In the second set, Vogasari came from behind to tie it again, this time at 3-3, to come out on top, 6-4, and tie the overall match at 2-2.
Carla Pons Martorell put up a good fight against Angie Shakraichuk on court six, but ultimately fell to the Bear in identical sets, 6-3, 6-3, to give Baylor the match advantage at 3-2.
On court two, Koch dropped her first set to Camilla Abbate, 6-3, and then downed the Bear, 6-1, in the second set to force a third. With the overall match score at 3-2 in Baylor’s favor, Koch found herself down, 5-3. The Jayhawks battled back to tie the final set at 5-5. Koch ultimately fell to Abbate in three, 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, ending the match, 4-2.
Khmelnitckaia was topped in her first set, 6-3, by Jessica Hinojosa at the No. 4 position. Bouncing back in her second set, Khmelnitckaia defeated Hinojosa, 6-3, to send their match to a third set. The third set was stopped de to the match being clinched for Baylor with Khmelnitckaia up, 5-3.
“We’ll regroup and get ready for the NCAA Tournament,” said Chapman. “We’ll learn from (Friday) and hopefully we’ll be better because of it.”
Up next, the Jayhawks will await their fate for the NCAA Tournament when the selection show airs Tuesday, May 1 at 4 p.m., CT.
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