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Collins, Komar Fall in First Round of NCAA Singles Championship; Ready for NCAA Doubles Championship

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Collins, Komar Fall in First Round of NCAA Singles Championship; Ready for NCAA Doubles Championship

Orlando, Fla. – Junior Kylie Collins and redshirt freshman Anastasiya Komar were both defeated in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championship on Monday at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.

The pair’s time in the singles championship came to a close with the defeats, but the two will return to the courts for the doubles championship starting on Tuesday.

Kylie Collins  
Collins faced Virginia Tech’s Ozlem Uslu in the first set of matches at 9 a.m. local time. In the first set, Uslu took an early lead and stayed in control as she went on to win, 6-2.

The second set was a closer battle between the two, but Uslu narrowly held off Collins to secure a 6-4 win and punch her ticket into the second round.

The defeat brings an end to Collins’ singles campaign in her first season in Baton Rouge, where she picked up 13 wins and helped the Tigers back to the NCAA Tournament after missing out last season.

Anastasiya Komar
Komar’s match against Stanford’s Angelica Blake was originally supposed to start at 3:30 p.m. local time, but severe showers moved in the area late in the morning and pushed back matches scheduled before then. The match would finally go on three hours after the scheduled start, but inside on the indoor courts instead of outside.

Blake took the lead in the first set and held off a comeback attempt from Komar to narrowly win, 6-4. The second set saw Komar flip the script, only dropping one game in a dominant 6-1 win to force a third set to decide the match. In the third set, Blake recovered from her second set and took the early lead and didn’t look back on her way to a 6-2 win to advance to the second round.

The defeat brings an end to a tremendous singles campaign as Komar finishes with a 33-8 overall record. The Belarus native posted 12 wins against ranked foes this season and her 19-2 singles record in dual play was a key contributor to the Tigers returning to the NCAA Tournament this season. Because she qualified as a No. 9-16 seed, Komar will be recognized as an ITA Singles All-American following the conclusion of the NCAA Championships.

Up Next
Collins and Komar will face Nebraska’s Samantha Alicea and Raphaelle Lacasse in the first round of the NCAA Doubles Championship on Tuesday, start time still TBD.

The pair enter the tournament with a perfect 10-0 record when playing together, including a strong 8-0 record in dual matches at the top court. The pair have earned four wins against ranked foes and qualified as a No. 5-8 seed, earning them ITA Doubles All-American honors following the conclusion of the NCAA Championships.

Alicea and Lacasse are the first Nebraska duo to represent the program in the tournament since 2013. The pair posted a 16-1 record this spring and are currently ranked No. 34 by the ITA. The duo enters the match on a ten match winning streak, including defeating the team that handed them their lone defeat in a rematch.

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NCAA Singles Championship

Round of 64

  1. 54 Ozlem Uslu (VT) def. #39 Kylie Collins (LSU) 6-2, 6-4
  2. #44 Angelica Blake (SU) def. #9 Anastasiya Komar (LSU) 6-4, 1-6, 6-2