Kansas tennis adds two signees for upcoming season

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas tennis roster became even stronger with two players signing National Letters of Intent (NLIs) for the 2018-19 season. Plobrung Plipuech, who has a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) singles and doubles rankings of No. 734 and No. 659, respectively. Sofia Smagina brings in her own WTA rankings of No. 1012 for singles and a doubles ranking of No. 576.
 
“We are thrilled with the additions of Sofia and Plobrung to our Kansas tennis family,” said head coach Todd Chapman. “Plobrung and Sofia both bring a lot of international junior and professional experience to the team. They are both extremely athletic and talented and we believe they both will make an immediate impact for Kansas tennis. (Assistant) Coach (Caroline) Lilley did an amazing job in the recruitment of both of these young ladies and did a massive amount of work to make these two signings possible.” 
 
Plipuech, a native of Bangkok, Thailand, has been ranked as high as No. 105 in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior rankings. She has racked up an impressive 19 singles wins on the ITF pro circuit and 23 victories in doubles.
 
Smagina, a native of Penza, Russia, has had a strong showing herself on the ITF pro circuit with 12 singles and 23 career doubles wins.
 
“With four of our top five players returning (Anastasia Rychagova, Janet Koch, Nina Khmelnitckaia and Maria Toran Ribes), as well as these additions of Sofia and Plobrung, and the earlier of signings of Julia (Deming) and Malkia (Ngounoue), we couldn’t be more excited about the season ahead,” Chapman said.
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