No. 65 Kansas Claws Back for 4-2 Win Over Iowa State
| #65 Kansas 4, Iowa State 2 Jayhawk Tennis Center March 20, 2015 |
| Doubles |
| No. 1 – Samantha Budai/Ksenia Pronina (ISU) def. Alexis Czapinski/Maria Belen Luduena (KU) 6-4 |
| No. 2- Meghan Cassens/Ana Gasparovic (ISU) def. Smith Hinton/Madison Harrison (KU) 7-6 |
| No. 3 – Alejandra Galvis/C. Hauge Andersen (ISU) vs. Rachel McNeely/Summer Collins (KU) 6-6 unfinished |
| Order of Finish: 1,2 |
| Singles |
| No. 1 – Maria Belen Luduena (KU) def. Samantha Budia (ISU) 6-3, 6-4 |
| No. 2 – Smith Hinton (KU) def. Ksenia Pronina (ISU) 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 |
| No. 3 – Madison Harrison (KU) def. Meghan Cassens (ISU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 |
| No. 4 – Alejandra Galvis (ISU) def. Summer Collins (KU) 7-6, 6-4 |
| No. 5 – Rachel McNeely (KU) def. C. Hauge Andersen (ISU) 6-2, 6-2 |
| No. 6 – Ana Gasparovic (ISU) vs. Alexis Czapinski (KU) 7-6, 5-5 unfinished |
| Order of Finish: 5,1,2,4,3 |
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The 65th-ranked Kansas women’s tennis team clawed back from an early deficit overall and two first-set losses to claim a 4-2 victory over Big 12 Conference rival Iowa State Friday afternoon at the Jayhawk Tennis Center. The win improved KU to 5-8 overall on the season and 1-2 in conference play.
“The biggest thing is out of all the weeks this season, we’ve had a lot of things going on the past 7-10 days. Just all kinds of adversity and just things that could have gave us a lot of reasons not to be successful today,” said Kansas head coach Todd Chapman. “I felt like today, for the first time, we didn’t allow those things to become excuses as for why we couldn’t win and we actually found reasons as to why we could be successful. I thought that was the biggest part, we found reasons to be successful today.”
It was a battle from the beginning as both the Jayhawks and Cyclones went down to the wire on all three doubles courts. Iowa State eventually came out on top, taking the doubles point after picking up wins on courts one and two.
Court one was first to finish with senior Maria Belen Luduena, who was paired with freshman Alexis Czapinski, falling to Iowa State’s Samantha Budai and Ksenia Pronina, 6-4.
A battle took place on court two between Kansas freshman duo Smith Hinton and Madison Harrison who took on Cyclone pair Meghan Cassens and Ana Gasparovic. Throughout the match each pair responded to the other by scoring point after point until Iowa State clinched the match and the doubles point in a 7-6 victory.
Down 1-0 after doubles play, Kansas was able to bounce back. Freshman Rachel McNeely was able to give the Jayhawks some momentum as she downed ISU senior Caroline Hauge Andersen in straight-sets, 6-2, 6-2, on court five to even the score at 1-1.
Next up, Luduena topped Iowa State’s top singles player, Samantha Budai, in straight-sets, 6-3, 6-4, giving Kansas a 2-1 lead over the Cyclones.
On court two Hinton defeated Pronina in one of KU’s two third-set come-from-behind victories. Hinton fell behind 1-6 in the first set, but fought back, eventually dominating Pronina in the second and third sets, 6-1, 6-4, to give Kansas a 3-1 lead.
Iowa State did not go down without a fight as KU’s Summer Collins was unable to seal a win on court four, falling to Cyclone junior, Alejandra Galvis, in straight sets, 6-7,4-6.
Harrison sealed the hardfought win for the Jayhawks as she defeated Meghan Cassens in come-from-behind fashion for her second-consectuive Big 12 singles victory.
Freshman Rachel McNeely helped lead KU to a 4-2 win over Iowa State Friday afternoon.
“Our coaches had just been talking about sticking to the game plan no matter how they’re playing (ISU)” said Harrison. “That was something that really helped me today when I was down, just sticking to the game plan”.
Harrison got out to a slow start dropping the first set 2-6. She fought back, dominating Cassens in the second set 6-3, forcing a third set and ultimately downing Cassens 6-2, while clinching Kansas’ 4-2 win over the Cyclones.
“The fight was great in singles,” said Chapman. “I definitely wasn’t happy with our energy and emotion in the doubles. It just wasn’t there and that was the challenge, to come out and play in the singles like something was on the line and we did. That was the biggest part, we really raised our level and in certain matches where things didn’t go our way, especially at two and three singles.”
“We definitely gained some confidence today,” said Harrison. “We are going to keep moving with that and keep rolling with that and try to bring that on Sunday”.
Kansas will close out its five-match homestand Sunday afternoon when it plays host to West Virginia. First serve is scheduled for noon at the Jayhawk Tennis Center.
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.
