No. 22 WT Opens Home Stretch with Matinee Sweep over K-State, 4-0

Friday, March 28

Waco, Texas

12 p.m.

Baylor

Kansas State

No. 22 WT Opens Home Stretch with Matinee Sweep over K-State, 4-0

3/28/2025 3:15:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score

Bears pick up third consecutive win at home in dominant win over the Wildcats

WACO, Texas – Baylor women's tennis picked up its third-straight win on Friday afternoon in 4-0 fashion over the Kansas State Wildcats.

Baylor (16-3, 7-2 Big 12) earned the doubles point and swept three singles courts to defeat K-State (7-8, 4-4 Big 12) in two and a half hours at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center on a rainy Friday in Waco.

THE RUNDOWN
In what started out as a back-and-forth doubles point, the Bears were able to find separation first on Court Two, as Sierra Berry and Na Dong defeated Veronika Kulhava and Maria Santos, 6-4. Shortly after, the 24^th-ranked Liubov Kostenko and Cristina Tiglea clinched the doubles point in 6-2 fashion over Maralgoo Chomsomjav and Charoltte Keitel.

The third doubles court was left abandoned at 5-all with the Bear pairing of Kennedy Gibbs and Zuzanna Kubacha.

In singles, BU took four first sets at the Nos. 1, 4, 5 and 6 courts, as Tiglea dropped an 8-6 breaker at No. 2 and Dong lost the 6-1 first frame.

Kostenko got on the board first, as she defeated Zhanel Rustemova, 6-2, 6-3, at the No. 1 spot in a dominatingly quick match. Gibbs collected a straight-setter over Kulhava, 6-4, 6-2, to bring the Bears within one in her fifth-straight singles win.

After dropping a long deciding-point volley, Nanaka Sato got BU's fourth team point of the day at 6-2, 7-6(5), to move the Bears to 16-3 and 9-1 at home.

The 87^th-ranked Dong just completed a comeback 7-6(5) second set over Chomsomjav when the match was completed and her court was abandoned, while Tiglea was down and set and Kubacha was working through a second set after winning the first.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Joey Scrivano
On today's match…
"Just a total team effort. I love the way we're competing. At this time of the year, that's all that matters, it's just how well you compete. You don't have a ton of preparation left; practice is what it is. Now, it's all about showing up and giving your best, and we did that today."

On the season ahead with just a few weeks left…
"I think our best is yet to come. I think this team, because of the work they've put in throughout the season and because of our long-term strategy, is not a team that just thinks about the next match. We're very long-term oriented, so some of the things that weren't there in the fall earlier in the season, we're starting to see them in the matches now, which is a lot of fun."

Senior Liubov Kostenko
On her match today…
"I think I was just playing loose and relaxed today because it's very nice to play at home for me. I also like playing inside because there's no wind and no sun, so the conditions are really good. I think just the whole team's performance was good today. We were there for each other, we trusted ourselves and trusted each other."

WHAT'S NEXT
No. 22 Baylor continues its weekend homestand against Oklahoma State on Sunday with first serve set for 1 p.m. at the Hurd Tennis Center.

- BaylorBears.com -