The Kansas tennis team fell to 1-1 for the spring season after a 7-0 loss to Notre Dame at the Jayhawk Tennis Facility Friday. The Fighting Irish are ranked No. 13 in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

The doubles team of sophomore Kate Morozova and freshman Sara Lazarevic faced Notre Dame’s No. 12 ranked doubles team of sophomore Kristy Frilling and senior Kali Krisik.

“All the players there are really good,” Morozova said. “Me and Sara, in doubles, played well. We came out with a lot of energy and were ready to fight.”

Morozova, a Togliatte, Russia native, and Lazarevic, a Bradenton, Fla., native, went on to lose the match 8-2, however.

“They are a strong team and they played with a lot of power. They were just so consistent.” Lazarevic said. “They were on top of every ball so that is something that we have not faced previously, but it is something we can take to improve on.”

In singles, Morozova once again faced Frilling, who is ranked No. 30 in the nation in singles.

“I started really slow so I was down 3-0, but then I found my game and I started to play much better,” Morozova said.

She battled back to a first-set tiebreaker, which went into five deuce games, but lost both sets.

Freshman Vika Khanevskaya was the only singles player to go to a second-set tiebreaker. She played against Notre Dame senior Colleen Rielley, who attended Blue Valley West in Overland Park.

“If you are a little bit down with your feelings, you are still fighting for each ball, but it is hard compared to the first set,” Khanevskaya, Moscow, Russia native, said.

She won the first set 6-4, but lost the second 6-0 and the tiebreaker 10-6.

Lazarevic said it was a good learning experience playing a talented team and it would help later in the season.

“It gave us a look at what we need to do differently next match coming up and what we need to work on,” Lazarevic said. “Being our second match of the season I think it opened a lot of doors for us.”

Kansas’ next match is against the University of Missouri-Kansas City Wednesday at 2 p.m. at the Jayhawk Tennis Facility.

— Edited by Drew Anderson