Lady Raiders outlast Kansas in Lawrence

Thursday, March 14

Lawrence, Kan.

5 PM

Texas Tech Athletics

Kansas

Lady Raiders outlast Kansas in Lawrence

March 14, 2024 | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Casey Montalvo

LAWRENCE, Kan. – In a thrilling contest decided by the very last singles match of the evening, the Texas Tech Lady Raiders outlasted the Kansas Jayhawks by a 4-3 score at the Jayhawk Tennis Center on Thursday. The win marks the second time this season that Tech defeated the Jayhawks, 4-3, in a match.

No. 27 Texas Tech (11-5, 4-1 Big 12) collected its 12th doubles point of the season in an exciting battle with the No. 58 Jayhawks (4-8, 2-2 Big 12) to begin the competition. Lady Raider duo Mariya Polishchuk and Cristina Tiglea broke serve to start their match against Heike Janse Van Vuuren and Jocelyn Massey. They kept their foot on the gas the entire way through, earning a 6-1 victory at court two to give Tech a slight edge.

However, Kansas was able to even things up after taking a 6-1 win at court three, moving all eyes to the top court where No. 7-ranked Metka Komac and Avelina Sayfetdinova were taking on Kyoka Kubo and Gracie Mulville. Both teams went back-and-forth the entire time, breaking serves to tie up the match. The Jayhawks would lead 5-4 after holding their serve, then the Lady Raiders came right back to tie it at 5-all. Komac and Sayfetdinova went on to break Kansas' serve to lead 6-5 before holding for the 7-5 victory to clinch the point.

The doubles point would be the decider and both teams picked up three singles victories apiece on the night. First, sophomore Andreea Lila came out firing on all cylinders as she only dropped one game to Tamari Gagoshidze at court six to win it, 6-1, 6-0.

Kansas won the next two singles matches at courts one and three, in that order, to even things at 2-all. However, Komac would give Tech back the advantage after she took down Massey at court five. Komac won the first set decisively, 6-1, before the Jayhawk evened the match with a 7-5 second set. Both players traded games in the final set until Komac went ahead 5-4. In this game, Massey took a 40-15 advantage before the Lady Raider won three-straight games to claim the victory, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

Once again, Kansas didn't back down as they tied the match at 3-3 following a Jayhawk win at court four. But, Texas Tech senior Polishchuk showed her poise and experience to lead the Lady Raiders to victory.

The Moscow, Russia native earned an impressive, 6-2, win in set one to take an early lead against Maria Titova at two singles. Titova would answer with a 6-2 set of her own to force a third and deciding set to give one team the victory. The Lady Raider and Jayhawk kept going back-and-forth in the match until Polishchuk took a 6-5 lead after breaking Titova's serve. But, the Jayhawk broke right back to push the set to a tiebreaker. In a battle to the end, Polishchuk ended up tying the breaker, 6-6, on an ace, then winning the next two points to clinch the match with the 7-6 (6) set.

Up next, the Lady Raiders head to Ames, Iowa to take on the Iowa State Cyclones this Saturday, March 16 at 11 a.m.

RESULTS
#27 Texas Tech 4, #58 Kansas 3
Singles
1. Mulville, Gracie (KU) def. #85 Cristina Tiglea (TTU) 6-2, 6-2
2. Mariya Polishchuk (TTU) def. Titova, Maria (KU) 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (8-6)
3. Kubo, Kyoka (KU) def. Avelina Sayfetdinova (TTU) 1-6, 6-4, 6-4
4. Janse Van Vuuren, H (KU) def. Yekaterina Dmitrichenko (TTU) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
5. Metka Komac (TTU) def. Massey, Jocelyn (KU) 6-1, 5-7, 6-4
6. Andreea Lila (TTU) def. Gagoshidze, Tamari (KU) 6-1, 6-0

Doubles
1. #7 Avelina Sayfetdinova/Metka Komac (TTU) def. Mulville, Gracie/Kubo, Kyoka (KU) 7-5
2. Mariya Polishchuk/Cristina Tiglea (TTU) def. Janse Van Vuuren, H/Massey, Jocelyn (KU) 6-1
3. Titova, Maria/Adams, Jasmine (KU) def. Andreea Lila/Jermine Sherif (TTU) 6-1

Order of finish: Doubles (2, 3, 1); Singles (6, 1, 3, 5, 4, 2)