March 1, 2003

The 59th-ranked Kansas State tennis team won its first Big 12 Conference match of the season and fourth straight dual match at home with a 5-2 victory over Texas Tech Saturday at Ahearn Field House.

With the victory, K-State improves to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the league, while the Lady Raiders fell to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in the conference.

The Wildcats got out to a slow start, losing all three of their doubles matches. With sophomore Andrea Cooper still out with an injury, K-State had freshman Jessica Simosa and junior Hayley McIver play No. 1 doubles. The pair lost 8-2 to Beverly Dawson and Irina Tereschenko. At No. 2 doubles, senior Petra Sedlmajerova and Paulina Castillejos fell 8-3 to Kendall Brooks and Tara Browning. Sophomore Maria Rosenberg and freshman Aveen Alkhatib had the closest match, but lost 9-7 to Katja Kovacic and Barbara Schraml.

In singles, Kansas State rebounded to win five of the six matches for the victory.

Sedlmajrova improved to 5-1 this spring with a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles. Rosenberg and Simosa remained undefeated at No. 2 and No. 3 singles with 6-0, 6-3 and 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 victories, respectively.

At No. 4 singles, Castillejos picked up her third win of the season with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Brooks. McIver recorded her first win at No. 5 singles this season with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Kovacic. In just her second collegiate match, Alkhatib fell to Schraml, 6-1, 6-0.

"I was not pleased with how we played in doubles but we did a good job coming back in singles," K-State head coach Steve Bietau said. "Number one (Sedlamajerova) and two (Rosenberg) really played great against some really tough competition. We had some situations (number three through five singles) with the match on the line and we had to make something happen in order to win and we did. Jessica was able to turn things up a notch and win. The turning point in the match for us definitely was turning those (singles deficits) around."

Kansas State 5, Texas Tech 2

Singles
1 Petra Sedlmajerova, K-State, def. Irina Tereschenko, TTU, 6-3, 6-1
2 Maria Rosenberg, K-State, def. Beverly Dawson, TTU, 6-0, 6-3
3 Jessica Simosa, K-State, def. Tara Browning, TTU, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1
4 Paulina Castillejos, K-State, def. Kendall Brooks, TTU, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
5 Hayley McIver, K-State, def. Katja Kovacic, TTU, 6-4, 6-2
6 Barbara Schraml, TTU, def. Aveen Alkhatib, K-State, 6-1, 6-0

Doubles
1 Dawson/Tereschenki, TTU, def. Simosa/McIver, K-State, 8-2
2 Brooks/Browning, TTU, def. Sedlmajerova/ Castillejos, K-State, 8-3
3 Kovacic/Schraml, TTU, def. Rosenberg/Alkhatib, K-State, 9-7

~ksu~