LAWRENCE, Kan. – No. 48 Kansas fell behind early but battled back to defeat No. 40 Houston 4-3 on Friday evening at the Jayhawk Tennis Center. The win is Kansas’ fourth ranked win of the season.

“I thought it was a great response after doubles,” Kansas head coach Todd Chapman said. “I thought Houston outplayed us in the doubles and really pressured us, and we didn’t handle it well. I thought we did a great job responding at the start of singles, where we really set the tone and took the momentum back. And then from there, it was a battle. Give Houston credit. That was a tough, hard-fought college tennis match, and it feels great to come out on the right side.”

Kansas improved to 8-7 (4-2 Big 12) this season, while Houston dropped to 12-4 (3-4 Big 12). The Jayhawks also moved to 7-3 in home matches this year.

Houston took an early advantage in the match by winning the doubles point with wins on courts one and three. On court one, Kansas’ Yerkezhan Arystanbekova and Anna Putilina fell to Houston’s Sophie Schouten and Chems Zeghlouli in a tight 7-6 (2) match. Petja Drame and Elizaveta Morozova took down KU’s Kyoka Kubo and Meriem Ben Ezzedine 6-2 on court three to take the doubles point and the 1-0 lead.

The Kansas pair of Heike Janse van Vuuren and Meg McCarty improved to 6-3 on the season with a 6-4 win over Iva Sepa and Valeriia Krokhotina on court two.

Kansas responded in singles play, taking two matches to take a 2-1 lead in the match. On court two, van Vuuren continued her winning ways with a 6-1, 6-3 straight-set victory over Zeghlouli to improve to 9-3 on the season. No. 53-ranked Kubo grabbed a hard fought 7-5, 6-2 win over Morozova on court one to give the Jayhawks the 2-1 lead. Putilina faced off against Schouten on court six and battled to a 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 win to give Kansas a commanding 3-1 lead.

The Cougars didn’t back down, grabbing wins on courts three and four to tie the match at 3-3 with one court remaining. Sepa took down Arystanbekova on court three 7-5, 6-1; and Krokhtina defeated Ben Ezzedine 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 on court four.

The match came down to court six, which featured Kansas’ McCarty and Houston’s Drame. Drame took the first set 6-4 before McCarty took set two with a score of 6-2. Set three went down to the wire, with McCarty taking the set 7-6 (5) to give Kansas the 4-3 win over Houston.

UP NEXT

The Jayhawks will finish the weekend with a ranked match against No. 19 UCF on Sunday, March 22, at the Jayhawk Tennis Center. The match is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. CT.

Results

Doubles: 


Schouten/Zeghlouli (HOU) def. Arystanbekova/Putilina (KU), 7-6 (2) 
van Vuuren/McCarty (KU) def. Sepa/Krokhotina (HOU), 6-4
Drame/Morozova (HOU) def. Kubo/Ben Ezzedine (KU), 6-2

Singles: 


No. 53 Kubo (KU) def. Morozova (HOU), 7-5, 6-2
van Vuuren (KU) def. Zeghlouli (HOU), 6-1, 6-3
Sepa (HOU) def. Arystanbekova (KU), 7-5, 6-1
Krokhtina (HOU) def. Ben Ezzedine (KU), 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
McCarty (KU) def. Drame (HOU), 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5)
Putilina (KU) def. Schouten (HOU), 6-1, 1-6, 6-4