No. 22 WT Downs Kansas, 4-1

The No. 22 Baylor Women’s Tennis team (2-1) opened at-home play with a 4-1 victory over Kansas (0-2) in the first day of ITA Kickoff Weekend.

No. 2 Alina Shcherbinina and Anita Sahdiieva gave the Bears their first doubles point after defeating Sonia Smagina and Tiffany Lagarde, 6-1.

Kansas’ Raphaelle Lacasse and Mariana Manyoma-Velasquez responded with a doubles victory of their own, besting Isabella Harvison and Paula Barañano, 7-5, at the No. 3 spot.

The Bears secured the doubles point with No. 1 Mel Krywoj and Alicia Herrero pulling out a 7-6(6-1) tiebreak win over Malkia Ngounoue and Maria Titova.

At the No. 2 spot, Harvison dropped her match 0-6, 1-6 against Smagina.

Barañano earned the first singles point of the day on a 6-2, 6-2 win over Manyoma-Velasquez at the No. 6 spot. No. 5 Sahdiieva followed by beating Lagarde, 6-1, 6-1 to give the Bears a 3-1 lead.

Shcherbinina closed out the match and secured Baylor’s win by besting Smagina, 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 3 position.

The Bears will face No. 15 USC tomorrow as they advance to the ITA Kickoff Weekend’s championship round at the Hurd Tennis Center at 2 p.m. (CT).