MANHATTAN, Kan. Defending Big 12 Conference champion Oklahoma State escaped with a close 4-3 rally over No. 74-ranked Kansas State Saturday in women’s college tennis action at Ahearn Field House.

OSU (4-5, 1-2), ranked No. 69 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, claimed four of the six singles matches of the day to capture its first conference victory of the season. Having won the doubles point early, K-State needed three wins in singles play to get past the Cowgirls.

Junior Maria Rosenberg and sophomore Jessica Simosa easily won at the No. 1 and No. 2  singles spots to push the Wildcats ahead 3-0, but it would not be enough with losses in the remaining singles matches. Rosenberg beat OSU’s Katya Kolodynska in straight-sets of 6-0, 6-0, while Simosa defeated Jana Karaskova, 6-1, 6-1. Both players improved their spring season records to 6-2.

In 31 all-time meetings between the two schools, the Wildcats have never beaten the Cowgirls when playing at home in Manhattan. Last season, K-State picked up only its third all-time victory against OSU.

“We didn’t play doubles like we would have liked to have played, but we still got the job done to win the doubles point,” Assistant Coach Andres Gonzalez said. “Unfortunately, we had some bad matches today, but some good things came out of the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches. Maria and Jessica played really well and Jessica bounced back from a bad loss last week at Texas Tech. Every team in our conference has very good players top-to-bottom, so it hasn’t been easy for us so far. We will look to do better against KU on Wednesday and continue to work on doubles and work harder as a team.”

The Wildcats (3-5, 0-3) continue their two-match homestand this week hosting instate rival and conference foe Kansas on Wednesday, March 17 at 3 p.m. The dual match will be played at the Washburn Tennis Facility, unless weather permits and competition is moved to Ahearn Field House.

(69) Oklahoma State 4, (74) Kansas State 3
March 13, 2004
Ahearn Field House
Manhattan, Kan.

SINGLES
No. 1 Maria Rosenberg (KSU) def. Katya Kolodynska (Oklahoma State), 6-0, 6-0.
No. 2 Jessica Simosa (KSU) def. Jana Karaskova (Oklahoma State), 6-1, 6-1.
No. 3 Ines Furtmayr (Oklahoma State) def. Paulina Castillejos (KSU), 6-3, 6-3.
No. 4 Zana Masnic (Oklahoma State) def. Hayley McIver (KSU), 7-6 (3), 6-2.
No. 5 Lauren Simmons (Oklahoma State) def. Judith Diaz (KSU), 6-2, 6-4.
No. 6 Jennifer Poskitt (Oklahoma State) def. Aveen Alkhatib (KSU), 6-3, 6-2.

DOUBLES
No. 1 Rosenberg/Castillejos (KSU) def. Kolodynska/Karaskova (Oklahoma State), 8-6.
No. 2 Simosa/Diaz (KSU) def. Masnic/Furtmayr (Oklahoma State), 9-7.
No. 3 Simmons/Poskitt (Oklahoma State) def. McIver/Alkhatib (KSU), 8-4.