🎾 Jayhawks Close Out Busy Weekend at Battle in the Bay, Wahoowa Invitational
LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Kansas women’s tennis team capped off a busy season opening weekend of tennis at the Battle in the Bay in San Francisco, California and the Wahoowa Invitational in Charlottesville, Virginia, where the Jayhawks got their first action of the fall season.
With the team splitting between two of the top competitions in the country, Kansas’ Malkia Ngounoue and Roxana Manu represented the Jayhawks at the Battle of the Bay, while Sonia Smagina, Tiffany Lagarde, Julia Deming and Mariana Manyoma Valsquez were in action at the Wahoowa Invitational.
Following a strong first day of competition, the Jayhawks opened with singles match play at the Wahoowa Invitational on Friday, where Julia Deming defeated Penn State’s Alamo, 6-1, 6-1 in straight sets, Tiffany Lagarde defeated Virginia’s Kiefer, 6-2, 6-0 and Sonia Smagina defeated Virginia’s Odell, 6-4, 6-4. Later on in doubles, Lagarde and Deming paired up to beat Penn State’s Lasorda and Nielsen, 6-0.
Meanwhile at the Battle in the Bay on Friday, Roxana Manu defeated Pacific’s Ruja in singles, 6-1, 6-7 (2), 10-6.
Kansas continued its success into Saturday, where the duo of Malkia Ngounoue and Manu defeated Wisconsin’s Stoica and Larrain, 8-3 in doubles, before also taking down USC’s Han and Lee, 8-3 to move onto the consolidation final on Sunday. Ngounoue and Manu would go on to win the consolidation final by default over San Diego’s McBride and Desiatnikov.
Closing out singles at the Battle in the Bay, Ngounoue took down San Francisco’s Ariana Capogrosso in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.
Finishing out the weekend in Virginia, the duo of Deming and Velasquez defeated Penn State’s Nielsen and Checkylstova, 6-2, while Lagarde won her singles matchup against Rajecki of NC State, 7-6 (1). 3-6, 10-5. Lagarde and Smagina would later pair up to defeated Old Dominion’s Alcaide and Viktorovich, 6-3, in doubles.
Kansas will be back in action Sept. 24-26 as the team will split for the Tulsa UTR, in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Sept. 24-26 and the North Carolina Invitational on Sept. 24-26 in Chapel Hill, N.C.
