Iowa State hoped to upset No. 27 Texas Tech, but instead, its losing streak extended to 10 matches after a 4-0 sweep Saturday.
The two strong doubles pairs from Texas Tech dominated the Cyclones to begin the match. No. 7 Avelina Sayfetdinova and Metka Komac defeated Anna Supapitch Kuearum and Isabella Dunlap 6-2, and Cristina Tiglea and Mariya Polishchuk took down Valeska San Martin Ramirez and Gala Arangio 6-1. Juliette Nask and Ashlee Narker were trailing their match 5-3 when it went unfinished.
Singles struggled from the start for the Cyclones, with each of the three losses being straight sets. Dunlap, Narker, and San Martin Ramirez were the three losses, dropping their matches 6-2, 6-1 for Dunlap, 6-1, 6-3 for Narker, and 6-1, 6-0 for San Martin Ramirez.
Nask and Arangio were trending toward losses as Nask was trailing 6-3, 4-3, and Arangio 6-2, 5-1. Kuearum was the lone bright spot for the Cyclones as she led No. 85 Tiglea 6-2, 3-1 when the match was called.
Singles trailed from the start
Outside of Kuearum, the Cyclones struggled to get anything going on the singles side. Spots two through six lost their first set without winning more than three games.
Narker, who has won the last two matches, lost the first set 6-1, and it was too much to come back from, dropping the next set 6-3. San Martin Ramirez had a similar result to Narker, losing the first set 6-1 and had no momentum, losing the next one 6-0.
Red Raiders dominate in doubles
Texas Tech has two doubles pairs that are not super familiar with losing. Sayfetdinova and Komac had an 11-1 record going into Saturday, and Tiglea and Polishchuk were 11-3. Neither pair gave the Cyclones any hope, taking a demanding lead from the jump.
Kuearum and Dunlap were down 2-1 early, but Sayfetdinova and Komac took complete control and won 6-2. San Martin Ramirez and Arangio also won one game early to their opponents, but Tiglea and Polishchuk won four straight to win the doubles point for Texas Tech.
Kuearum back on track
Despite Kuearum’s match going unfinished Saturday, the battle looked on track for another ranked victory against Tiglea, winning the first set handily with a score of 6-2. In the second set, Kuearum built a 3-1 lead, which was as far as the match went.
The strong play against Tiglea was an impressive bounce-back for Kuearum, who had a tough loss Thursday to No. 74 Bobo Huang from BYU.
Iowa State is back in action 3 p.m. Friday against No. 26 Baylor in Waco, Texas.
