Jayhawks Advance, Roll Past Iowa State, 4-1

Anastasija Trubica clinched the match for Kansas with a 6-4, 6-3, win on court five.
No. 68 (8) Kansas 4, (9) Iowa State 1
Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center
April 24, 2014
Doubles
No. 1 – Dylan Windom/Paulina Los (KU) def. Sami Budai/Ksenia Pronina (ISU) 8-7 (7-4)
No. 2 – Maria Cardona/Maria Belen Ludueña (KU) led Meghan Cassens/Ana Gasparovic (ISU) 7-4 DNF
No. 3 – Caroline Henderson/Anastasija Trubica (KU) def. Lydia Green/Caroline Andersen (ISU) 8-4
Order of Finish: 3, 1
Singles
No. 1 – Ksenia Pronina (ISU) def. Dylan Windom (KU) 6-1, 6-2
No. 2 – Maria Cardona (KU) led Sami Budai (ISU) 7-6 (7-3), 5-3, unfinished
No. 3 – Maria Belen Ludueña (KU) def. Meghan Cassens (ISU) 6-2, 6-2
No. 4 – Paulina Los (KU) def. Emma Waites (ISU) 6-3, 6-1
No. 5 – Anastasija Trubica (KU) def. Talisa Merchiers (ISU) 6-4, 6-3
No. 6 – Caroline Henderson (KU) led Lydia Green (ISU) 7-6 (8-6), unfinished
Order of Finish: 1, 4, 3, 5*

FORT WORTH, Texas – Kansas women’s tennis punched its ticket to the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals with a 4-1 win over the Iowa State Cyclones in the first round of the conference tournament at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center Friday afternoon. Kansas will meet top-seeded Baylor in the quarterfinals on Friday, April 24 at 9 a.m.

Eighth-seeded Kansas (12-11, 2-7 Big 12) tennis won two doubles matches and led one to grab the doubles point before claiming three courts in singles to clinch the match. The Jayhawks won the first set on five of the six courts in their win over ninth-seeded Iowa State (9-14, 1-8 Big 12).

The win pushes Kansas’ all-time series lead over ISU to 40-3.

“I thought we really competed today,” said Chapman. “That’s something that we’ve been talking a lot about. Consistently, I felt like in the tough situations today, we competed and found a way. Iowa State did a good job of putting us in those tough situations, we just consistently found a level of winning points. That’s what it came down to. We won a couple of points here and there, and some tiebreakers, which was the difference today.”

Kansas and Iowa State started the doubles competition exchanging games. Every court was tied on multiple occasions. Slowly, but surely, the Jayhawks gained momentum. On court three, Anastasija Trubica and Caroline Henderson pulled away, downing ISU’s Lydia Green and Caroline Andersen, 8-4. The win put Kansas one match away from winning the doubles point and claim the early edge.

Seniors Paulina Los and Dylan Windom broke away from Ksenia Pronina and Samantha Budai in their match on the first court. But the Cyclone duo battled back into contention and forced the match into a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, KU pulled away from Iowa State to clinch the point and give Kansas the early lead, 1-0.

On court two, Maria Belen Ludueña and Maria Jose Cardona battled with Cyclone pair, Meghan Cassens and Ana Gasparovic. The two Chile natives pulled away, leading the Cyclones, 7-4 before the match was called after Windom and Los’ win on court one clinched the doubles competition.

Iowa State struck first to open the singles competition. Pronina downed Windom, 6-1, 6-2 on the first court to tie the match, 1-1.

Los brought KU back on top with a win on the fourth court over Emma Waites, 6-3, 6-1. Ludueña scored next for the Jayhawks, topping Meghan Cassens on the third court, 6-2, 6-2. To open the second set, Ludueña embarked on a 3-0 run before Cassens was able to snag a point.

With the score, 3-1, the Jayhawks only needed one more win to clinch the match and advance to the quarterfinals.

Trubica answered Kansas’ call, defeating Talisa Merchiers on court five to clinch the first-round match in KU’s favor. Trubica fought back against Merchiers in the first set after trailing in the opening. Trubica bounced back to claim the first set, then ran past Merchiers in the second to snag a 6-4, 6-3 win.

Per Big 12 official policy, following Trubica’s match, Henderson and Cardona’s match was called.

The Jayhawks will return to action on Friday, April 25 at 9 a.m. at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center to take on the top-seeded Baylor Lady Bears.

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