Tuesday, April 29, 2008
History repeated itself twice during the Kansas tennis team’s Big 12 tournament run last week.
After beating Iowa State 7-0 in the regular season finale on April 20th, the Jayhawks swept the Cyclones again last Thursday, this time 4-0, in the opening round of the conference tournament.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, their outcome against fourth-seeded Colorado wasn’t any different than the regular season meeting. After sweeping Kansas, 7-0, during conference play on March 5, the Buffaloes outmatched the Jayhawks again in the Big 12 tournament, winning 4-0, and dashing Kansas’ tournament title hopes.
“I thought we played very well against Iowa State and we competed hard,” coach Amy Hall-Holt said. “Playing Colorado the match was pretty close and I thought we came out and put everything we had out there. Colorado just played very well.”
The Jayhawks held steady with Colorado early on in doubles play. The No. 1 doubles team of senior Elizaveta Avdeeva and junior Edina Horvath jumped out to a 2-1 lead, but struggled from that point on, losing seven straight games and falling 8-2.
It was an off day for the No. 2 team comprised of junior Kunigunda Dorn and senior Lauren Hommell the two were never able to get things going and as a result fell 8-0 to Colorado’s Melisa Esposito and Franziska Jendrian.
The No. 3 doubles tandem of junior Yuliana Svistun and freshman Magdalena Tokarczyk came out strong and gained the early advantage in their match. Svistun and Tokarzyk led Colorado’s Abbie Probert and Gleisy Torres 6-5 when the match was stopped because the Buffaloes had already won at the top two spots and captured the doubles point.
“I don’t think anything exactly went wrong. Colorado just played hard,” Hall-Holt said. “It wasn’t that we weren’t ready and that we gave up. Hands down, Colorado just played well.”
In singles play the Buffs proved to be too strong for the Hawks. Although Kansas again started strong in a few of the singles matches, they were unable to hang with Colorado down the stretch. Colorado quickly disposed of the Hawks by winning three singles matches in straight sets and leading every match in progress when the dual was called. Hommell was the only Kansas singles player to win a set on the day.
Despite the disappointing finale to Big 12 play, this year’s squad fared better than most Kansas teams in recent memory. Kansas’ fifth place conference finish was its best since the 2001-2002 season. The Jayhawks won 10 matches overall on the season, which is a vast improvement compared to the four overall victories from just one year ago.
The team also garnered numerous individual accomplishments on the year. Tokarczyk became the 10th player in school history to be named to the All-Big 12 singles team and Avdeeva will graduate as the most winning Big 12 doubles player in Kansas history. Each member of the senior class, Hommell, Avdeeva and Stephanie Smith, were all named to the Academic All-Big 12 team.
Hall-Holt said the higher finish in conference as well as the accomplishment of the senior class is something the team can be proud of this year.
“I’m really proud of our seniors and what they put forth this year,” Hall-Holt said. “With our underclassmen, I’m looking forward to next year and watching them develop and grow as well.
—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina
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