Kansas women’s tennis lost to Arizona 4-2 in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida, on Apr. 16. Kansas, seeded fifth, dropped to a season record of 13-10 while fourth-seeded Arizona improved to 20-8.
The match was closely contested, with both teams exchanging points during doubles and singles play. Kansas head coach Todd Chapman said, “Credit to Arizona. They played the big moments a little more consistently and more freely than we did tonight and that was the difference in a tough hard fought match.”
In doubles action, Yerkezhan Arystanbekova and Anna Putilina from Kansas won their match against Ciara Moore and Zoya Chulak with a score of 6-1. However, Arizona’s Martyna Ostrzygalo and Tanvi Narendran defeated Meg McCarty and Meriem Ben Ezzedine from Kansas by a score of 6-0. The deciding doubles point went to Arizona after Josie Usereau and Maria Garcia beat No. 64 Kyoka Kubo and Heike Janse van Vuuren.
Kansas managed two singles victories: No. 74 Kubo defeated Ostrzygalo (6-3, 6-0) on court one, while Nahyeong Cho overcame Garcia (6-4, 6-2) on court five. However, Arizona secured three singles wins—Usereau over van Vuuren (6-4, 7-6), Moore over Arystanbekova (7-6 [8], 6-3), and Narendran over Ben Ezzedine (6-1, 6-1)—to clinch the overall victory.
The remaining singles match between Putilina of Kansas and Chulak of Arizona was unfinished when play concluded.
Looking ahead, the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship Selection Show is scheduled for Monday, April 27 at 4:30 p.m. Central Time.
