KU tennis tumbles in home finale
Jayhawks lose to Aggies, but doubles play improves
The fanfare was minimal.
Brittany Brown carried off a handful of balloons after the Kansas University tennis team’s final home match Sunday at the Robinson courts, but there weren’t any tears or hugs — or graduating seniors. Brown, a sophomore, was celebrating her 20th birthday.
It was a Senior Day sans the seniors against Texas A&M, making it just a final tune-up before the Big 12 Conference tournament this week in Austin, Texas.
“I’ve never had this happen before,” Kansas coach Amy Hall-Holt said.
The Jayhawks (4-16, 3-8 Big 12) lost to the Aggies, 7-0, to drop their seventh straight match.
Although they were blanked, the Jayhawks finished two games short of earning their first doubles point since March 19 against Oklahoma State, which also was the last match the Jayhawks won.
After sophomore Ashley Filberth and freshman Stephanie Smith won, 8-6, at No. 3 doubles, the Jayhawks needed a victory by sophomore Brittany Brown and freshman Elizaveta Avdeeva at No. 2.
Brown and Avdeeva had a 7-5 advantage and looked poised to prevail, but the Aggies stormed back to tie it at 7. The Aggies took a 9-8 edge, setting up a tie-breaker, which Texas A&M finally won, 7-0, after nearly two hours.
“I think we had three match points, and I kept telling myself, ‘Don’t think about it. Think about going forward and having good targets and just moving,'” Brown said about possibly ending her team’s drought in doubles.
| Sunday at Robinson courtsTexas A&M 7, Kansas 0Singles1. Helga Vieira, A&M, def. Elizaveta Avdeeva, 6-1, 6-0; 2. Lauren Walker, A&M, def. Christine Skoda, 6-1, 6-0; 3. Anna Lubinsky, A&M, def. Brittany Brown, 6-4, 6-0; 4. Anna Blagodarova, A&M, def. Lauren Hommell, 6-1, 6-1; 5. Tiffany Clifford, A&M, def. Ashley Filberth, 6-1, 6-0; 6. Marisa Druss, A&M, def. Stephanie Smith, 6-1, 4-6 (10-4).Doubles1. Lubinsky/Walker, A&M, def. Skoda/Hommell, 8-0; 2. Blagodarova/Clifford, A&M, def. Brown/Avdeeva, 9-8 (7-0); 3. Filberth/Smith, KU, def. Seva Iwinski/Vieira, 8-6. |
Despite another close defeat, Hall-Holt was pleased with the energy she saw her team put forth.
“We came out in doubles, and it was probably in the last month or so the best doubles performance we’ve done,” Hall-Holt said. “They’re realizing how important doubles points are now.
“I was really pleased with the positive attitude, the positive drive they’ve had today in doubles. I told them we have to take the positive out of our match today — which was the doubles performance — and go with it to lead us into the Big 12 (tournament).”
Smith — who, along with junior Christine Skoda, has a team-best 7-3 record in conference singles — came the closest to pulling out a singles victory, at No. 6. After losing her first set against Marisa Druss, 6-1, she won the second, 6-4, only to lose the tie-breaker, 10-4.
Kansas will open in the Big 12 tournament Thursday as the No. 11 seed by playing either Colorado or Texas Tech at the No. 6 seed.
“We just need to go out there more fired up than ever,” Brown said, “and believe that we can do it because I think we all know that we’re so close.”