Kansas State University Athletics
Kansas State University
Kentucky
K-State Comes Back Against Kentucky, Advances to Second Round of NCAA Tournament
May 11, 2018 | Tennis
Mesquita and Linares sealed the postseason win with successive victories in singles
EVANSTON, Ill. – The No. 42 K-State women's tennis team, facing near elimination with a 3-1 deficit, came back to beat No. 26 Kentucky, 4-3, in the First Round of the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship at Combe Tennis Center on Friday.
All-Big 12 Freshman of the Year Maria Linares sealed the team win with a thrilling victory at No. 3 singles. The Maracay, Venezuela native rallied from a 5-2 deficit in both the first and third sets to claim the match-deciding win. Her triumph was moments after sophomore Ines Mesquita sealed her own three-set victory at No. 6 singles that gave Linares the opportunity to clinch the match.
"I can't express how proud I am of this team," said K-State head coach Danielle Steinberg. "The way we fought at the end, everyone, one through six."
The win advances the Wildcats into a Second Round matchup against pod host Northwestern on Saturday at noon.
The victory was also the third of the season for K-State (15-10) in which it overcame a 3-1 deficit (William and Mary, March 4 and Washington State, February 11) as well as its fourth against a ranked team and second against an opponent from the SEC.
Although Linares and Mesquita sealed the postseason win in quick, successive fashion, freshman Margot Decker changed the direction of the match with her come-from-behind, three-set win at No. 1 singles a few more minutes prior. The All-Big 12 Second Team selection overcame a 6-2 loss in the first set against Kentucky's Emily Fanning and powered her way to 6-2 and 6-3 wins in the second and third sets, respectively. In the second set, Decker won the first five games.
"Margot winning that second set gave us so much energy," said Steinberg.
The match, moved indoors due to weather, featured Kentucky (14-11) taking the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and 2 and moving quickly ahead in most of the first sets of the singles matches. However, K-State was able to even the match at 1-1 when Kentucky's Lesedi Jacobs medically retired against Anna Turco at No. 5 singles. Turco was leading the first set, 5-4, at the time of the retirement.
The tie was later negated, though, when Kentucky grabbed a pair of victories at No. 3 and 4 singles immediately after one another. Carolina Costamagna fell to Mami Adachi at No. 3 (6-3, 6-3) while Rosanna Maffei lost to Diana Tkachenko at No. 4 (6-4, 6-2).
Although Linares rallied for a tiebreaker win in her third set, she was forced to do the same in the first set as well. Down 5-2 in the opener, Linares took the next three games to even the score at 5-5 and then staged the tiebreaker when she was down 6-5. She was even up against set point at 6-4 in the tiebreaker, but Linares fought back before taking it, 9-7.
Linares was up against the wall in the third at 5-2, but she elected to take a medical timeout after toughing through the early portion of the third. Following the break, Linares made it 5-5 with three straight games, but Kentucky's Mikulskyte grabbed the lead at 6-5 to put Linares and K-State up against elimination. Linares, however, managed to force the second tiebreaker of the match before claiming it, 8-6.
"The match was over basically, down 5-2, and (Linares) took it point by point and showed us the heart she has," said Steinberg. "We know she has it; we've seen it before. It's not the first time she's clinched for us, so it was just a matter of, can she push herself to get to that point and she did and I'm so proud of her for that."
Mesquita was on the wrong end of a tiebreaker in the first set of her match. After she fell behind 3-1, Mesquita battled back and seized a 5-4 advantage against Brianna Tulloch before the Kentucky freshman forced the tiebreaker. Mesquita trailed 4-2 in the extra points, but the sophomore moved ahead 5-4 after Tulloch's return was sent into the net. Despite the advantage, Tulloch rallied to take it, 7-5.
Mesquita was undaunted by the tiebreaker defeat, though, as she captured the second set 6-3 and took a 3-1 lead in the third. She was eventually down, 4-3, in the final set but came back to win, 7-5.
The match between K-State and No. 14 Northwestern will be the second time the two schools have met in the NCAA Tournament. The last time, in the First Round of the 2003 edition, resulted in a 4-1 K-State victory. The winner of the Saturday's matchup will earn a berth into the Sweet 16 hosted by Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina beginning May 17.
Notes
- K-State is 4-3 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. It has won three of its last four matches in the postseason tournament, dating back to 2003.
- The Wildcats have advanced past the First Round of the NCAA Tournament in three of its four all-time trips (1996, 2003, 2018).
- K-State's 15 wins are the most in a season since 2003 (15-8). The 15 wins so far are also tied for the second-most in program history (Most: 16, 2011) while its .600 winning percentage is currently fifth-highest (next highest: .608, 2000 and 1990).
Players Mentioned
