K-State Concludes Road Swing at Tulsa Wednesday

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas State women's tennis team concludes its three-match road trip on Wednesday, as the Wildcats take on No. 49 Tulsa Golden Hurricane at 2 p.m., CT at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

Due to COVID-19 regulations, the match will have limited fan capacity at the Case Tennis Center. Fans can follow Wednesday's match via the Tulsa Athletics website at http://streamingtennis.com/tulsa/.

K-State (6-6, 1-3 Big 12) has split the first two matches of its current road trip, dropping a 4-2 decision at No. 33 Iowa State on Friday, March 26 before earning a 4-2 victory over West Virginia on Sunday, March 28.

Winners of 6 of its last 8 matches, No. 49 Tulsa (9-4, 3-0 AAC) enters Wednesday's match on an overall 3-match winning streak after dispatching off conference foe Wichita State, 4-2, on Saturday. The Golden Hurricane count a 4-3 win over No. 32 Texas Tech during their winning streak but have also dropped matches to Big 12 foes and No. 25 Kansas (3-4), Oklahoma (twice) and No. 22 Oklahoma State (1-6) this season.

Tulsa is led by super senior Martina Okalova (9-2), who checks in at No. 98 in the Oracle/ITA Top 125 Singles Rankings, while she teams with fellow super senior Vera Ploner for the No. 26-ranked doubles' tandem with an impressive 11-1 record.

This will be the 19^th all-time meeting between the squads with the Golden Hurricane owning a narrow 10-8 advantage in the series, including a 6-3 mark in matches played in Tulsa.

K-State took advantage of a short-handed West Virginia squad on Sunday to collect its first Big 12 win of the season. The Mountaineers had just five available players for the match, which forced walkovers in both doubles and singles play and contributing to two of the Wildcats' four points on the day.

Senior Lilla Barzo and freshman Manami Ukita were key in securing the victory over West Virginia, as the tandem moved to 6-0 on the year with a 6-3 win over Momoko Nagato and Amber Fuller to clinch the doubles' point at the No. 3 position before earning victories at the No. 3 and 4 singles' spots, respectively. Barzo (5-2) notched a two-set victory over the Mountaineers' Amber Fuller, 6-1, 7-6 (7) for her first victory at No. 4 position before Ukita (5-4) won a pair of nail-biter sets against Nadya Maslova, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (7).

Barzo and Ukita pace the Wildcats with 5 singles' wins each in dual-match play.

Sophomore Karine-Marion Job continues to pace the Wildcats at the top of the lineup, tallying a 4-5 mark at the No. 1 singles position and joining with junior Maria Linares to lead the No. 1 doubles' pairing with a 4-5 record. Job split her two singles' contests last week, including a three-set win over Iowa State's Naklo Thasaporn, 6-0, 1-6, 6-4, while she teamed up with Linares to win two of their last three doubles' matchups by scores of 6-2 against Iowa State and DePaul. The duo's match at West Virginia was not finished.

Linares (4-4) boasts a 4-3 mark at the No. 2 singles' position with wins in two of her last three contests. She knocked off Kansas' Malkia Ngounoue, 6-4, 6-3, on March 21 before a another straight-set victory over DePaul's Alina Kuzemnkova, 6-4, 6-3, on March 22.

Ukita (3-1), Barzo (4-1) and junior Anna Turco (3-1) have all performed well at the No. 4-6 singles positions.

K-State starts a 5-game homestand on Saturday with a matchup against No. 44 Kansas (7-7, 1-2) in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown at Mike Goss Tennis Stadium. The Wildcats are 5-0 at home this season.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Karine-Marion Job

Maria Linares

Anna Turco

Manami Ukita

Kansas State University Athletics