Jayhawks fall short in ITA Finals at Jayhawk Tennis Center

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas tennis team was well represented Monday in the singles and doubles finals of the Oracle Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Summer Circuit event at the Jayhawk Tennis Center, but came up empty in both.
 
Rising KU sophomore Sonia Smagina won the first set against Martina Zerulo of Arkansas, 6-2, and dropped the second, 6-3. Zerulo then took the match in a super tiebreaker, 10-4, to win the title. Zerulo had beaten incoming Jayhawk freshman Vasiliki Karvouni Sunday in the semifinals.

In the doubles final, Jayhawks Malkia Ngounoue and Julia Deming lost, 8-7, to Jessica Aragon and Claire Reifeis of Nebraska.

This was Smagina’s first appearance in the ITA summer circuit, while Deming and Ngounoue have been regulars. They won the doubles title in the Kansas City ITA event in late June and finished runner-up in the Norman, Oklahoma, event before that.

The University of Kansas was one of eight schools across the country hosting competition in Week 4 of the ITA Summer Circuit powered by UTR. The event included 54 men and 56 women.

ABOUT ITA SUMMER CIRCUIT POWERED BY UTR 
The ITA Summer Circuit opened June 22 at 11 sites throughout the country, with 1,026 players registered to compete. The ITA Summer Circuit is currently made up of 56 events over six-consecutive weekends beginning June 22 and continuing through the last weekend in July.
 
The summer circuit was created to provide college players the opportunity to compete in organized events year-round. Although the primary purpose of the circuit is to provide incoming freshman and collegiate players the chance to compete in the summer months, for NCAA compliance purposes, the events are categorized as “open”; therefore, anyone (including high level juniors and adults) is eligible to compete in these events as long as he/she is a current ITA member.

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