Kansas Tennis Hosts Colorado, Eastern Michigan, UMKC

THE BASELINE
The undefeated Kansas Jayhawks prepare to enter a three-match homestand against Colorado (Feb. 7), Eastern Michigan (Feb. 9) and UMKC (Feb. 9) at the Jayhawk Tennis Center this weekend.

SCOUTING THE BUFFS
Former Big 12 foe, Colorado (3-1, 0-0 Pac 12), returns to Lawrence to meet Kansas (2-0, 0-0 Big 12) for the first time since 2011 when the Jayhawks handed the Buffs a 6-1 defeat. Kansas currently leads the series 25-17.

Colorado comes to Mt. Oread with a two-match winning-streak under its belt. On Feb. 1, the Buffs took on Air Force and Colorado State in a double-header. Colorado swiftly defeated Air Force, 4-1 before moving on to CSU where it blanked the Rams, 7-0. Before their most recent match-action, the Buffs split scores with Northern Colorado (W, 7-0) and Boise State (L, 4-3). In its season opener, CU downed Northern Colorado 7-0. But the Buffs’ success was short-lived, as the Broncos pulled out a 4-3 win the following day.

In doubles play, the duo of Ormeño Ruiz and Winde Janssens has chalked up eight victories against their opponents. Sophomore Alex Aiello holds the team-best singles record of 14-3.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Eastern Michigan (5-2, 0-0 MAC) comes to Lawrence with seven matches, including five wins. The Eagles have blanked two of their opponents: Northern Iowa and Butler. EMU also claimed 5-2 victories over IPFW, Oakland and Detroit. Before falling to Michigan State (1-6) on Feb. 2, the Eagles collected a four-match winning streak. Kansas currently leads the series, having won the first and only meeting, 7-2, in KU’s home opening match during the 2000 season. EMU was selected to finish second in the Mid-American Conference behind the Miami of Ohio RedHawks.

Individually, the Eagles are led by Klara Superjova, who has gone 7-5 in singles play, currently holds the best record at No. 1 singles. Her fellow teammate, Nino Mebuke has a team-best singles record of 11-4.

In doubles, Nino Mebuke and Klara Supejova have played the most No. 1 doubles and the duo have an overall 7-4 record and 3-2 record in dual matches.

The Eagles will take on the UMKC Roos in the Jayhawk Tennis Center on Feb. 8 at 3 p.m.

SCOUTING THE ROOS
Hailing from less than 50 miles away, the UMKC Roos (3-1, 0-0 SL) will come to Lawrence to continue a border rivalry that has spanned seven years. KU currently leads the UMKC series, 7-0. Like the teams before, the Roos are no strangers to win streaks. UMKC started its season with a three-match streak. First, Kansas City found triumph against Baker – swiftly defeating the Wildcats, 7-0. The Roos continued their run against William Jewell (6-1) and Creighton (4-3). UMKC’s surge was snapped Feb. 1 by the Wichita State Shockers who flew past the Roos, 4-0.

The Roos are led by Raquel Argenal and Mariam Kurasbediani. Argenal, the Roos’ No. 2 singles player boasts a 3-1 singles record . Kurasbediani, has the best singles record on the Roos team as she enters the upcoming weekend with an undefeated 3-0 record.

On the doubles side, Stavrianakou and her partner Linda Ammar Mouhoub, play at the No. 1 double spot. The duo is 6-1 in doubles play.

KANSAS CONNECTIONS
Colorado’s Ashley Tiefel and UMKC’s Maddie Schulte wil return home to the Sun Flower State this weekend. Tiefel is a native of Leawood and attended Blue Valley HS while Schlute is from Wichita and attended Kapaun Mount Carmel HS.

CHAPMAN’S 2014 RECRUITING CLASS SHINES
With the addition of four-top 100 recruits for the 2014-15 season, Kansas women’s tennis was allotted 76 votes in TennisRecruiting.net’s Winter Rankings of the Top 25 Women’s Recruiting Classes for the Class of 2014, as announced Monday. Kansas was the first unranked team to be receiving votes and followed No. 25 South Carolina’s 82 votes.

Smith Hinton (Raleigh, N.C. / Broughton H.S.), Summer Collins (Atlanta, Ga.) and Rachel McNeely (Westminster, S.C. / West Oak H.S.) have all signed National Letters of Intent (NLI) to play for Kansas.

THIS TIME, LAST YEAR
In their second weekend of dual matches, the Jayhawks met the No. 23-ranked Tulsa Hurricanes on Feb. 2 at home. Tulsa swiftly defeated Kansas on its home court, 6-2. The two lone winners were current Jayhawks, Dylan Windom, who beat Tulsa’s Maria Sant’Anna and Anastasija Trubica, who topped Carol Benito, 7-5, 6-2.

STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM, NOW WE’RE…
The Kansas Jayhawks emerged from their first weekend of dual matches victorious. After upsetting No. 36 Nebraska for its first top-50 win and the biggest win for the program in 10 years, Kansas beat Liberty in its home opener two days later. The Jayhawks are not only undefeated for a second consecutive year, but also are the only remaining Big 12 team that has no losses, giving the Jayhawks the top non-conference winning percentage in early matches. The next round of ITA rankings will be released Feb. 11.

                          Overall         Pct
Kansas                 2-0       1.000
Baylor                    6-1       .857
Oklahoma            4-1       .800
Texas Tech           4-1       .800
Iowa State            3-1       .750
Kansas State      3-1       .750
Texas 3-1             3-1       .750
TCU  3-4              3-4       .429
Oklahoma State 1-3       .250
West Virginia       0-3       000

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