K-State Sweeps South Dakota in Season Opener

Saturday, January 19

Manhattan

1 p.m.

Kansas State University

South Dakota

Jan 19, 2019 | Tennis

Box Score Results (.pdf)Match Highlights

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Dropping just a single set Saturday afternoon, K-State began its 2019 spring dual campaign with a 7-0 sweep of South Dakota at Body First Indoor Tennis Center.

"It feels great," said first-year head coach Jordan Smith. "I'm really happy how the girls came out today. Maybe a little nervous, it's been so long since we played at home, but I thought we did a good job of building on the fall and finally getting into a team competition. It's good, especially heading into Georgia where we are really going to need to come together."

The Wildcats (1-0) jumped out to a 1-0 lead after they claimed the doubles point with all three K-State pairings sealing 6-2 victories.

Playing at the No. 1 spot, Margot Decker and Anna Turco ousted USD's Anastasiia Bondarenko and Natka Kmoskova while at the second position Maria Linares and Ines Mesquita bested Nanette Nylund and Emma Tranberg. Finally, the freshmen duo of Ioana Gheorghita and Maria Ponomareva defeated Jana Lazarevic and Luana Stanciu at the No. 3 spot.

Decker and Turco picked up the next two points for the Cats, each with straight-set wins from the Nos. 2 and 3 positions, respectively. Decker upended South Dakota's Habiba Aly, 6-0, 6-1, while Turco defeated Kmoskova, 6-1, 6-2.

Linares, last season's Big 12 Freshman of the Year, needed a tiebreaker in the second set to complete her straight-set victory over the Coyotes' Lazarevic, 6-2, 7-6 (5). It marked Linares' second victory at the No. 1 spot in her career (2-0) and gave K-State's its match-clinching fourth point.

A pair of Wildcat freshmen picked up the first singles dual victories of their respective careers, as Ponomareva knocked off Stanciu in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1, from the fifth spot in the lineup. Karine-Marion Job, who joined the program this month, overtook Nylund, 6-2. 6-3, playing at the No. 6 position in her debut.

"I thought they did well," said Smith of his newcomers' performances. "All three of our freshmen picked up their first wins as a Wildcat today, so that's always great. I thought they handled it as best they could with everything going on – being in a new atmosphere and in a team format for the first time – I was really happy with how we did."

Mesquita, the team's only junior, fought back after dropping the opening set to win in a third-set tiebreaker over Tranberg, 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-7), from the fourth spot.

The Wildcats are now 2-0 all-time against South Dakota (0-2), with both coming in sweeps in Manhattan.

Next up for K-State is the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Athens, Georgia, where it will face off with William & Mary on Friday at 9 a.m. The Cats will then face either fifth-ranked Georgia or South Florida on Saturday.

"Just how we start," Smith said of what his team needs to do next week at Georgia. "Being a little bit more aggressive, sometimes we kind of feel our way into matches. Sometimes that works but when we play at a higher level, I think if we can take control a little earlier and set the tone that usually is the difference."

Fans can follow live stats at K-StateSports.com with live updates on the team's official Twitter page @KStateTEN.