Kansas Maintains Positivity After First Invite of the Season

MIDLAND, Texas – The Kansas women’s tennis team’s promising talent and daily improvement were some of the positive things new head coach Todd Chapman spotted in the team’s first invitational. The Jayhawks return to Lawrence bumped and bruised, but still hopeful.

“I think the most positive thing is we got better as the weekend went on,” said head coach Todd Chapman. ” We want to do more than just compete with people but we’re putting ourselves in the situations that we need, and if we continue to learn from those situations like we did this weekend, we’ll continue to get better this fall. “

After struggling two days prior and not advancing to the third day of the Midland Invitational, the Jayhawks participated in matches against opponents that count in Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, but not in tournament standings. These matches not only benefit the players, but they also help Chapman see what needs to be corrected for the upcoming spring season.

“I was pleased.  It just reaffirmed to me what I already thought was that we have some talent on the team, but that we biggest thing is we have to learn to win,” Chapman said. “Our goal coming here this weekend was to get competition and put ourselves in tough situations and we did that and I thought  the girls responded and I feel like we got better as the weekend went on.”

Maria Belen Ludueña came back again defeating Seda Arantekin of TCU (6-7, 6-3, 6-2) while Paulina Los notched the second win of the day against Sarah Toti of Texas Tech (6-4, 6-3).

Dylan Windom battled and lost in a tie-breaker against Machado Santos of Texas Tech (1-6, 6-3, 6-1),  Anastasija Trubica fell to Sam Czarniak of Texas Tech (7-5, 7-5) and Maria Jose Cardona was defeated in the third set by Marcelina Cichon of Tulsa (4-6, 6-3, 10-6).

“The the main goal of the fall season, in my opinion, is practice,” said Chapman. “Practice and preparation for the spring. So our goal this fall is to get better and be ready when the spring season starts. “

NEXT UP
The Jayhawks take a break from match action and will continue again at the ITA All-American in Pacific Palisades, Calif. on Sept. 29.

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