🎾 Jayhawks Fall to Denver in Home-Opener, 5-2

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas women’s tennis team played at the Jayhawk Tennis Center for its first time in nearly a year, where they fell to Denver, 5-2.

Denver claimed the early advantage with a win in doubles, as Denver’s Taylor Melville and Hada Change defeated Malkia Ngounoue and Carmen Roxana Manu, 6-0. Denver captured the doubles point on court three, with Tatum Burger and Anna Riedmiller of Denver defeating Kansas’ Tiffany Legarde and Julia Deming.

Going into singles, Kansas sophomore Vasiliki Karvouni claimed the first point by defeating Denver’s Tatum Burger in straight sets, 7-5, 6-0. Denver then rattled off three straight wins to secure the match at 4-1.

With two courts in progress, Kansas’ Sonia Smagina battled through three sets to defeat Taylor Melville on court one, 6-0, 6-7, 6-1.

“We have to be better competitors than we were today and we have to handle adversity better than we did today,” Head Coach Todd Chapman said. “As a team, we have to find our identity and choose to be tough in tough situations and we aren’t consistently at that point right now as a team.”

Kansas returns to action on Sunday, February 14 inside the Jayhawk Tennis Center, as the Jayhawks host in-state foe Wichita State starting at 1 p.m.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Kansas Athletics continues to rely on the advice of the Pandemic Medical Advisory Team on a weekly basis to determine the number of fans permitted in its athletic facilities. PMAT has set capacity for matches inside the Jayhawk Tennis Center at 96 total patrons with tickets being allotted 90 minutes prior to match time on a first come first serve basis. Admittance will remain free of charge, but in an effort to control the number of fans permitted, tickets will be given to fans wishing to be in attendance. This will remain the common practice until further notice. Tickets cannot be reserved in advance and will only be available at the front desk of the Jayhawk Tennis Center.

Fans can also follow along with live results here, or stream the match here.