The Arizona women’s tennis team went 1-2 on the weekend while in Lawrence, Kansas. Arizona took on University of Kansas, Texas Tech, and University of California Santa Barbara.
Friday: Arizona vs. Kansas
The Arizona women’s tennis team visited the University of Kansas on Friday, Feb. 17 at 9 a.m. and fell short with a 4-2 upset by the Jayhawks. Before this, the Wildcats were sustaining a five-match winning streak.
The only Wildcat wins of the match were in singles play secured by freshman Reece Carter who defeated Kansas’s Carmen Roxana Manu 6-3, 6-2 along with sophomore Parker Fry against Jocelyn Massey 6-1, 6-3.
Fry’s success remains a pattern from her freshman year as the leading singles player with 18 total wins in the 2021-22 season. Alongside graduate Salma Ziouti in the doubles, was unable to defeat Jayhawks’ Heike Janse Van Vuuren and Malkia Ngounoue with a 6-4 loss.
Ziouti also fell short in singles after being bested by Maria Titova 6-2, 6-4 in singles play. After evening the score, Ngounoue secured Kansas’s lead after defeating sophomore Midori Castillo-Meza 7-5, 6-1.
The match was clinched in Kansas’s favor by Vuuren after finishing off singles against freshman Tanvi Narendran 6-4, 6-4.
Saturday: Arizona vs. Texas Tech
The Arizona women’s tennis team met Texas Tech University for a match in Lawrence, Kansas on Saturday, Feb. 18 and the Lady Raiders made no points available to collect in a 4-0 domination over the Wildcats.
In the 8 a.m. challenge, doubles duo Fry and Ziouti were overtaken by TTU’s Avelina Sayfetdinova and Metka Komac 6-1. The duo also fell short in the day prior’s match against the University of Kansas, 6-4. Fry was also defeated in singles play 6-0, 6-2 by Arina Oreshchenkova.
In the other singles play performances, senior Kayla Wilkins was bested by rival Cristina Tiglea (7-6, 6-1) and Narendran by Kate Dmitrichenko (7-5, 6-4).
Unable to accommodate any points in Arizona’s favor, Carter had one-game leverage (1-0) before her match was called at three singles, after losing 6-7 and winning 6-3 in the first two against opponent Komac.
Doubles play was an extended despondency. Besides Carter and Castillo-Meza losing 5-1 by Olivia Peet and Tiglea, Wilkins and sophomore Belen Nevenhoven were swept 6-0 by Dmitrichenko and Camryn Stepp, clinching the doubles point for Texas Tech.
Saturday: Arizona vs. Santa Barbra
After two losses this past weekend against TTU and KU, Arizona managed to redeem itself with a win against the University of California, Santa Barbara 4-1 Saturday afternoon.
Although Carter and Ziouti accompanied by their partners allowed the Gauchos to grab the point in doubles play, they were able to retaliate in singles.
Carter defeated UCSB’s Valentina Khrebtova (6-3, 6-4) and Ziouti overcame Kira Reuter (6-3, 7-5), taking home the only win for women’s tennis that weekend.
Arizona will play their next matches in Montgomery, Alabama on Feb. 24 and 25 for the Blue Grey Classic.
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