Kansas State tennis split its opening weekend of Big 12 play, bouncing back from a Feb. 27 loss to secure a 4-1 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers on Sunday, March 1 at Peakform Sports and Wellness Center.

The win moved the Wildcats to 4-4 overall and 1-1 in conference action after dropping a 4-2 decision to the Cincinnati Bearcats earlier in the weekend.

On day one, K-State secured the doubles point for the fifth time this season, continuing to start fast and early. The nation’s No. 55 duo of junior Maragloo Chogsomjav and freshman Martaa Chogsomjav achieved a 6-1 win in doubles over Mountaineers Julie Bousseau and Zuzana Kudlackkova. 

Varvara Benovich and Diana Smolinska followed up the Chogsomjav sisters with a 7-5 victory. Sasha Kyselova and Chanel Rustemova fell 6-3 in doubles.

The Chogsomjav sisters carried their momentum into singles play. Maragloo outlasted Audrey Moutama in two tiebreaker sets, 7-6, 7-6, and Martaa handled Laura V. Morillo, now stretching her singles winning streak to four.

Two days earlier, the Wildcats were edged out by Cincinnati in a match defined by narrow margins. After winning the No. 1 doubles match, K-State dropped tiebreakers on the other two courts to surrender the early point. 

Maragloo earned a straight set win for singles, going 6-3, 6-2. Martaa added a three-set victory, but since the Bearcats claimed four singles courts overall, the dual was sealed.

“Overall, we didn’t perform to our highest this weekend,” K-State head coach Jordan Smith said. “Hopefully, we can move forward on the road and try to get there.”

The Wildcats will return to the road for the first time in a month, as the team travels to Colorado to face the Buffaloes on Friday, March 6 and the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Sunday, March 8.