K-State Competes at OSU Fall Series Championship Starting Friday

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas State women's tennis team will conclude their fall season this weekend, as the Wildcats travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma for the inaugural OSU Fall Series Championship, which from Friday-Sunday, November 6-8 at the Greenwood Tennis Center.

With the cancellation of multiple Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) events this fall season, the OSU Fall Series Championship will bring together eight Big 12 programs looking to showcase their talents in a competitive environment before the start of the 2021 Spring campaign. The Wildcats will be joined in the field by host Oklahoma State as well as Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma, TCU and Texas Tech.

The tournament will be slated for a 10 a.m. CT, start each day with doubles' action and before moving to singles play. There will be one draw for doubles' competition, while singles play will be split up in three flights.

"It's exciting to see some different matchups, which puts us back into that road trip mentality when we compete out of state," said head coach Jordan Smith. "Therefore, we have to take advantage of every opportunity that we get to compete. It's great to play a fall event that has almost all of the teams in the conference."

The OSU Fall Series Championship will include five programs from the Spring 2020 ITA Top 50 poll, as Oklahoma State (No. 14), Baylor (No. 22), Kansas (No. 32), Texas Tech (No. 48) and Oklahoma (No. 49) all held a spot in the national rankings during the spring campaign.

K-State has a ton of momentum after a strong showing at the K-State Fall Invite last weekend (October 30-November 1), as the Wildcats collected 13 singles victories, along with nine more in doubles' action. The 13 singles' wins tied the best mark at a home tournament for the Wildcats since hosting the same event in 2013.

Through two tournaments in October, the Wildcats have lit up the courts and accumulated 26 singles' victories over Kansas and Iowa State opponents.

Leading the charge at the K-State Fall Invite in singles play included Maria Linares, Ioana Gheorghita and Manami Ukita, as the trio recorded three wins each over Kansas and Iowa State opponents.

Ukita is off to a fast start to her young career in college tennis, as the Saitama, Japan, native is now 6-1 on the year in singles' competition. Gheorghita has also performed well in the lineup for K-State as the junior standout holds a 5-1 mark in singles' play for the fall season. Over the last two fall outings, the Ploiesti, Romania, product has compiled a 12-4 record in singles' play.

Keeping up with her teammates in the win column is junior Rosanna Maffei, who recorded two victories at the K-State Fall Invite to maintain an unblemished fall record in singles play at 5-0.

Doubles play saw Linares and junior partner Karine-Marion Job stay unbeaten for the fall season, as the duo won four matches at the K-State Fall Invite to improve to 7-0 for the fall campaign. Both Linares and Job are now 13-2 since last year in doubles' action.

Gheorghita and teammate Anna Turco competed for the first time together in doubles competition at the K-State Fall Invite and displayed great synergy after posting a 4-0 mark.

Tinkering with the doubles' lineup for the first few outings in fall play, the K-State coaching staff feels it has found a formula for success as team prepares for the OSU Fall Series Championship.

"We've established a couple of doubles teams now," said Smith. "I like to see our team continue to build on the chemistry in doubles and keep being aggressive."

OSU Fall Series Championship (November 6-8)
Greenwood Tennis Center
Stillwater, Oklahoma

Singles Draw
Flight 1 Opening Matches
Maria Linares (KSU) vs. Alana Wolfberg (OSU)
Rosanna Maffei (KSU) vs. Alicia Herrero Linana (BU)

Flight 2 Opening Matches
Anna Turco (KSU) vs. Kailey Evans (TTU)
Manami Ukita (KSU) vs. Carmen Roxana Manu (KU)
Karine-Marion Job (KSU) vs. Jessica Hinojosa (BU)

Flight 3 Opening Matches
Ioana Gheorghita (KSU) vs. Christen Hsieh (ISU)/Olivia Mikkelson (TTU)

Doubles Draw
1^st Round
Rosanna Maffei/Manami Ukita (KSU) vs. Marie Norris/Addy Guevara (TCU)

2^nd Round
Anna Turco/Ioana Gheorghita (KSU) vs. Alicia Herrero Linana/Mel Krywoj (BU)
Maria Linares/Karine-Marion Job (KSU) vs. Wolfberg/Medvedeva (OSU) OR Murphy/Chang (ISU)

For the latest on K-State tennis follow @kstatesports and @KStateTEN on Twitter or Kansas State Tennis on Facebook.

K-State Competes at OSU Fall Series Championship Starting Friday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ioana Gheorghita

Karine-Marion Job

Maria Linares

Rosanna Maffei

Anna Turco

Manami Ukita

Kansas State University Athletics