Kansas City, Mo. ? Despite an early lead following a thrilling end to doubles play, Kansas University was eliminated by Oklahoma, 4-3, on Thursday in the first round of the Big 12 women’s tennis championships.
KU, which entered the tournament as the No. 11 seed, ends its season with a record of 4-17, while the sixth-seeded Sooners (9-12) advance to face the third-seeded Texas A&M in today’s quarterfinals.
The Jayhawks seized early momentum after winning two of the three doubles matches to take the quick 1-0 lead.
Oklahoma opened singles play with a win in the No. 4 match, but the two teams split the next four singles matches to forge at 3-3 tie.
That left it up to No. 1 singles. With OU’s Gabby Baker already up a set and with a 5-4 lead in the second, KU’s Elizaveta Avdeeva rallied, eventually sending the matchup into a tiebreaker. Baker, though, was too much, winning the tiebreaker, 7-3.