Tennis struggles with injuries against No. 18 OSU

The Kansas State women’s tennis team battled against nationally ranked opponents. The injury-plagued Wildcats faced No. 18 Oklahoma State on Sunday in Manhattan.

The 2-19 Wildcats had to forfeit No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles due to injuries. Despite this setback, freshman Vanesa Suarez and sophomore Florentine Dekkers put up valiant efforts in singles, but the Wildcats ultimately fell 4-1 to Oklahoma State.

Dekkers and freshman Rozalia Gruszczynska started the day by dropping their No. 2 doubles match 6-1 to earn the first Cowgirl point. Another point for Oklahoma State was earned in singles against junior Aleen Quamar in straight sets, 6-2 and 6-1 at No. 4 singles.

The match then moved on to No. 5 singles, where junior Manami Ukita fell 6-0, 6-3.

Suarez managed to secure his fifth win of the season and the only Wildcat point at No. 2 singles.Suarez won the match by winning the second and third sets 6-2 and 6-4 after losing the first set 6-2.

Related:

K-State tennis suffers back-to-back losses to TCU and TTU

Read now

Dekkers lost her opening set at No. 1 singles against Kristina Novak 7-5. However, Dekkers made a comeback in the second set and won it 7-5. In the third set, Dekkers was down 1-0, but it was cut short due to losing the match that ended the day.

K-State returns to action Thursday at the Big 12 Tennis Championship. The Wildcats will play the No. 7 Baylor Bears, who won their regular season 4-2 against K-State.

The match will be played Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Jayhawk Tennis Center in Lawrence.