MANHATTAN - After successful performances at the Wilson/ITA Region V Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Wildcats will have a week to prepare for the fall’s final event, the Thunderbird Invitational in Tempe, Arizona on November 5-7.

The Cats successful ITA Regional weekend included advancing one athlete to the quarterfinals, senior Maria Rosenberg, and one player to the round of 16, freshman Tamar Kvaratskhelia. K-State also advanced the doubles tandem of freshman Olga Klimova and junior Jessica Simosa to the quarterfinals.

For the Thunderbird Invitational, K-State will bring its top four players: Rosenberg, Kvaratskhelia, Simosa and Klimova. These four athletes will face a number of opponents from the PAC 10, Mountain West and WAC conferences. These conferences feature a number of players ranked in the top 50 of the ITA preseason rankings. K-State may avoid these players, due to the ITA National Indoor Championship being held the same weekend in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  

Eleventh Heaven for Freshman
Freshman Tamar Kvaratskhelia has a a fall season for the ages, registering an 11-1 mark, including a the longest winning streak to begin a career in over a decade (11). Kvaratskhelia advanced through qualifying of the Wilson/ITA Region V Championships and reached the round of 16 before dropping her first match of the season.

The winning streak by the Tbilisi, Georgia native is the longest by a freshman since current Wildcat Maria Rosenberg won six in a row to begin her career in 2001. The 11-1 mark by Kvaratskhelia is also the best fall record by a freshman since Rosenberg finished with a 6-1 record in the fall of 2001.
In Kvaratskhelia’s 11 wins this fall she has won in straight sets eight times.

Rosenberg Rockets to 3rd on Career List
After tying for fifth on the K-State’s career singles win list at the Hoosier Classic, Maria Rosenberg has vaulted herself to third on the career singles win list (65-43) with her effort at the Wilson/ITA Region V Championships.

The senior from Manhattan, Kan., defeated Bindiya Parekh of Arkansas-Little Rock (6-2, 6-4), Dasha Zhurin of Colorado State (6-1, 6-2) and Katka Sevcikova of Missouri (7-6, 7-6). The three wins passed former ITA All-American Karina Kuregian for fourth and Eva Novotna for third. Rosenberg is now just 12 wins short of tying Petra Sedlmajerova for number one all-time.