Steffen Deetjen
Staff Writer

On Saturday, the USF womens tennis team took on Kansas State in single matches and was victorious with a final score of 4-2. Star junior Andrea Ka took the first victory against Palma Juhasz with exemplary set scores of 6-0, 6-4. Sophomore Thyra Taune played the next match against Iva Bago. Taune battled against Iva in three sets and came out on top with the score of the sets being 3-6, 6-0, 6-3. Senior Marina Nikolic took home another win for the Dons against player Maria Panaite with the set scores ending up as 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7). Sofia Holmberg was able to take the Dons to victory through her match against Amina St. Hill, 6-4, 6-1. It was all around a great combined effort for the women against a tough competitor like Kansas State.

Following Saturday’s thrilling matches against Kansas State, the Dons took on the Fresno State Bulldogs on Sunday and completed their match with a hard loss of 0-7. Overall, the Dons were not able to finish with an upper hand in either the singles or doubles matches.

In the singles the Dons put a good fight but ultimately were not able succeed. Andrea Ka played against opponent Sophia Watts and lost with a final set scores of 6-3, 6-2. Second to play, Thyra Taune competed against Maiar Sherif Ahmed and lost with a final set score of 6-2, 6-2. Next to play was Marina Nikolic against Rana Sherif Ahmed. Marina lost to her opponent with a score of 7-5, 6-3. Both senior Milica Hadzi-Tanovic and sophomore Genevieve McCloskey were able to take their matches to tiebreakers in their second sets, but were not able to close and lost to their opponents. Last to play in singles, Sofia Holmberg suffered a loss against Anne Susdorf with a final score of 6-2, 6-3.

In the womens doubles play, Andrea Ka and Marina Nikolic started off with an exciting match that ended in defeat. Their match against Maiar Sherif Ahmed and Rana Sherif Ahmed ended up in a loss of 6-4. In the second doubles match, players Milica Hadzi-Tanovic and freshman Ines Texeira played against Sophie Watts and Anneka Watts. Their match was finalized with a score of 6-2. The last doubles match with the duo of Genevieve McCloskey and Thyra Taune against Sofya Malysheva and Tanya Murtagh was unfinished because the winning team only required 3 out of 5.

The Dons next game will be away at UC Irvine on the Feb. 14 starting at at 11 a.m.. The day after they will travel to Long Beach, California to take on Long Beach State beginning at 11 a.m.

Photo Credit: Courtesy OF Dons Athletics