SE: Decker’s Comeback Victory Caps No. 40 K-State Tennis’ Conference-Opening Win over No. 28 Baylor
Mar 14, 2018 | Tennis, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
In the moment, Margot Decker was nervous.
Who could blame her? The K-State women's tennis freshman was playing No. 1 singles in her first Big 12 match ever, the team score tied at 3-3 and she was headed to a third set. In other words, the match was on her shoulders. Not to mention that it was against No. 28 Baylor, which has won the Big 12 regular season in 10 of the last 13 seasons.
Heading into her third set against Baylor senior Theresa Van Zyl, Decker felt all the eyes on her court. The noise that once surrounded her from play on other courts turned to silence. Enter the pressure.
"When the third set started, I was very, very nervous," Decker said. "I was just trying not to show anything. Everybody was behind me and I had to win."
Through true perseverance and grit, Decker found a way to win the two-plus hour match, 6-7 (9-11), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. Her victory clinched a 4-3 win for No. 40 K-State (10-3, 1-0), its first win over the Bears since 2011 and its third ranked win of the season.
"The way she came back… she started playing her best tennis when she was down and she kept doing it, even when she was up. She has a lot of fight in her," said sophomore Ines Mesquita, who won 6-4, 6-3, at No. 6 singles. "She saw that everybody was supporting her and that she had to give it her all and she did. It was amazing."
Decker's winning match score by itself paints the picture of a tight battle, but the details within it make it even more impressive.
In the first set, Decker fell behind 4-1 in the deciding first-to-seven, win-by-two tiebreaker. She rallied back to force extra points, before falling behind 6-7. Then she won one of many long rallies to keep it going. Down 7-8, she extended the set again with a strong backhand. Decker lost the set a few points later, but her early fight foreshadowed what was to come.
"I was, like, 'You lost it. Now it's behind you and you need to look forward,'" Decker said of her mindset following the first set. "In the second set, I didn't want to think about the first set, even though I could have won it. So I just focused on the next set."
Still, Decker found herself fighting to keep the match alive, especially after K-State freshman Anna Turco dropped a hard-fought, three-set match — 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 4-6 — to even the team score up at 3-3.
"I saw Anna in the third set and she was down and I was, like, 'OK, I can't give up now. I have to do it for the team,'" Decker recalled thinking. "Just give everything you have."
The native of Blodelsheim, France, trailed 2-5 in the second set, and even faced a 0-40 situation at one point in a game. Every time she needed a clutch shot or serve, however, she made it en route to forcing another tiebreaker. This time, she came out on the winning end to keep her team's hopes alive.
"Seeing her learning, growing and really believing she could come back from 5-2… she's going to remember this next week when she has another third set and the following week. That was massive for her," K-State head coach Danielle Steinberg said. "She played every point as if it was match point, basically, and the momentum shifts like that. That's what we always tell the girls. It doesn't matter the score. Momentum in tennis is everything. It just took a couple of points to shift everything. All of a sudden it's 5-4 and she believes."
Decker controlled the third set from the start, winning the first game on a powerful ace. She broke her opponent's serve on a deuce to jump to a 2-0 start. She won another deuce point to go up 3-1 and took a 4-1 advantage with more dominant serving.
"Margot has incredible power. I think today what I was most impressed with was she was able to change her strategy up a little bit. I think that's also part of just learning how to play and playing a lot of matches," Steinberg said. "She's still a freshman and in the past she's used to overpowering people, but today she played a lot smarter and made incredible choices, especially at the end, taking off power, powering through when necessary, serving big when necessary. I'm very proud of her choices."
Decker's lead was cut to 4-3 before she capped the marathon match by winning back-to-back games. In the final game, she almost fittingly fell behind 15-40, only to mount another comeback to finish her victory.
"I just stayed calm and focused on one ball after another. It worked, staying in the moment, not thinking about after, just thinking about the moment," Decker said. "I knew that everybody was behind me. I was very, very happy for the team."
Aside from the significance of beating a perennial Big 12 power to open conference play, K-State also did so without winning the doubles point.
Freshman Rosanna Maffei cruised to a 6-0, 6-2, win at No. 4 singles for K-State's first point, while senior Carolina Costamagna followed at No. 3 singles with a 6-1, 6-2, win. After Mesquita's win at No. 6, all K-State needed was one more to clinch the match, which Decker provided in impressive fashion.
"It shows that we have a lot of heart. It shows that we care about each other and we really want to win," Mesquita said of the win, which she thinks gave her team even more confidence that it is better than the Big 12 preseason poll that predicted the Wildcats to finish seventh. "It gives us a lot of confidence. I think we can do much better, and we're proving it. We still have a long ways to go, but we're doing it. We're going to show them who we are this year."
In the moment, Margot Decker was nervous.
Who could blame her? The K-State women's tennis freshman was playing No. 1 singles in her first Big 12 match ever, the team score tied at 3-3 and she was headed to a third set. In other words, the match was on her shoulders. Not to mention that it was against No. 28 Baylor, which has won the Big 12 regular season in 10 of the last 13 seasons.
Heading into her third set against Baylor senior Theresa Van Zyl, Decker felt all the eyes on her court. The noise that once surrounded her from play on other courts turned to silence. Enter the pressure.
"When the third set started, I was very, very nervous," Decker said. "I was just trying not to show anything. Everybody was behind me and I had to win."
Through true perseverance and grit, Decker found a way to win the two-plus hour match, 6-7 (9-11), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. Her victory clinched a 4-3 win for No. 40 K-State (10-3, 1-0), its first win over the Bears since 2011 and its third ranked win of the season.
"The way she came back… she started playing her best tennis when she was down and she kept doing it, even when she was up. She has a lot of fight in her," said sophomore Ines Mesquita, who won 6-4, 6-3, at No. 6 singles. "She saw that everybody was supporting her and that she had to give it her all and she did. It was amazing."
"They stepped on each court and believed they could win." - HC Danielle Steinberg
— K-State Tennis (@KStateTEN) March 14, 2018
?? #KStateTEN Match Highlights vs Baylor ?? pic.twitter.com/zNw2DXqxmo
Decker's winning match score by itself paints the picture of a tight battle, but the details within it make it even more impressive.
In the first set, Decker fell behind 4-1 in the deciding first-to-seven, win-by-two tiebreaker. She rallied back to force extra points, before falling behind 6-7. Then she won one of many long rallies to keep it going. Down 7-8, she extended the set again with a strong backhand. Decker lost the set a few points later, but her early fight foreshadowed what was to come.
"I was, like, 'You lost it. Now it's behind you and you need to look forward,'" Decker said of her mindset following the first set. "In the second set, I didn't want to think about the first set, even though I could have won it. So I just focused on the next set."
Still, Decker found herself fighting to keep the match alive, especially after K-State freshman Anna Turco dropped a hard-fought, three-set match — 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 4-6 — to even the team score up at 3-3.
"I saw Anna in the third set and she was down and I was, like, 'OK, I can't give up now. I have to do it for the team,'" Decker recalled thinking. "Just give everything you have."
The native of Blodelsheim, France, trailed 2-5 in the second set, and even faced a 0-40 situation at one point in a game. Every time she needed a clutch shot or serve, however, she made it en route to forcing another tiebreaker. This time, she came out on the winning end to keep her team's hopes alive.
"Seeing her learning, growing and really believing she could come back from 5-2… she's going to remember this next week when she has another third set and the following week. That was massive for her," K-State head coach Danielle Steinberg said. "She played every point as if it was match point, basically, and the momentum shifts like that. That's what we always tell the girls. It doesn't matter the score. Momentum in tennis is everything. It just took a couple of points to shift everything. All of a sudden it's 5-4 and she believes."
Decker controlled the third set from the start, winning the first game on a powerful ace. She broke her opponent's serve on a deuce to jump to a 2-0 start. She won another deuce point to go up 3-1 and took a 4-1 advantage with more dominant serving.
"Margot has incredible power. I think today what I was most impressed with was she was able to change her strategy up a little bit. I think that's also part of just learning how to play and playing a lot of matches," Steinberg said. "She's still a freshman and in the past she's used to overpowering people, but today she played a lot smarter and made incredible choices, especially at the end, taking off power, powering through when necessary, serving big when necessary. I'm very proud of her choices."
Decker's lead was cut to 4-3 before she capped the marathon match by winning back-to-back games. In the final game, she almost fittingly fell behind 15-40, only to mount another comeback to finish her victory.
"I just stayed calm and focused on one ball after another. It worked, staying in the moment, not thinking about after, just thinking about the moment," Decker said. "I knew that everybody was behind me. I was very, very happy for the team."
Aside from the significance of beating a perennial Big 12 power to open conference play, K-State also did so without winning the doubles point.
Freshman Rosanna Maffei cruised to a 6-0, 6-2, win at No. 4 singles for K-State's first point, while senior Carolina Costamagna followed at No. 3 singles with a 6-1, 6-2, win. After Mesquita's win at No. 6, all K-State needed was one more to clinch the match, which Decker provided in impressive fashion.
"It shows that we have a lot of heart. It shows that we care about each other and we really want to win," Mesquita said of the win, which she thinks gave her team even more confidence that it is better than the Big 12 preseason poll that predicted the Wildcats to finish seventh. "It gives us a lot of confidence. I think we can do much better, and we're proving it. We still have a long ways to go, but we're doing it. We're going to show them who we are this year."
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