Cats Conclude Play at ITA Regionals

Thursday, October 19

Lawrence, Kan.

All Day

Kansas State University

ITA Regionals

Oct 21, 2017 | Tennis

Day 3 Results

Decker, Mesquita, Turco eliminated in Round of 16

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The K-State women's tennis team concluded its run at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Championships presented by Oracle, at the University of Kansas Jayhawk Tennis Center and Sports Pavilion.

"Overall, we are definitely happy with the team's showing this weekend," said head coach Danielle Steinberg. "It was nice having the team compete against the best players in the region and the country, and even though some of us didn't play our best tennis yet, we were right there neck to neck with the top. This is encouraging considering I don't feel like we are even close to finding out the potential of this team."

After each winning three matches to move into the Round of 16, Ines Mesquita and Margot Decker were each defeated by Oklahoma State Cowgirls.

Mesquita suffered her first loss of the year to ITA's 43rd-ranked Vladica Babic, 3-6, 1-6. The sophomore is now 9-1 this season, moving to 20-11 in her career at K-State. Decker dropped her match to Marina Guinart, 1-6, 1-6. Decker is now 4-5 to begin her K-State career.

K-State's lone doubles tandem, Anna Turco and Decker, fell in its Round of 16 match against ITA's ninth-ranked Leolia Jeanjean and Giulia Pairone of Arkansas, 8-2. The duo finished the weekend 3-1 in their first tournament paired together.

"We need to do a lot more doubles work, which is to be excepted with so many players that are new to college tennis, but the fundamentals are there and there's a lot to work with," said Steinberg. "There were couple of things we did, that were in our control, that we were not pleased with, but we addressed it with the team and they responded well. Knowing how much they want to become better and tougher, I am confident this tournament and the challenges we faced will make us grow and improve right away."

The Cats picked up a pair of wins in extra matches on Saturday, as Maria Linares topped Balia Bangoura of Nebraska, 6-3, 6-1, and Rosanna Maffei beat KU's Tanya Nikolaeva, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1. Linares moves to 6-1 to start her career while Maffei improved to 5-2 this season in singles play.

Carolina Costamagna was defeated by Wichita State's Marta Bellucco, 6-0, default. The product of Argentina is now 7-3 this season in singles play.

The Wildcats return to action on Friday, November 3 when they head to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to take part in the UNC invitational. Live results and updates can also be found on the K-State women's tennis team's Twitter page @KStateTEN.