Jayhawks dominate on day two of Big 5 Challenge
FORT WORTH, Texas – Kansas tennis had a strong showing on day two of the Big 5 Challenge Friday night in Fort Worth, Texas, as the Jayhawks won eight out of nine matches in singles and doubles combined.
“We had many positives in our matches,” said head coach Todd Chapman. “We came out with pretty good energy in doubles and competed better across the board Friday compared to Thursday night in doubles. We did a solid job in singles and for the most part took care of what we could control. We look forward to another great opportunity to get better Saturday.”
All three doubles matches played Friday against teams from Arizona resulted in victory. Janet Koch and Sonia Smagina defeated Emma Wilson and Tayla Zandberg (6-2). Nina Khmelnitckaia and Malkia Ngounoue beat Gitte Heynemans and Marie Van Aelst (6-0). Maria Toran Ribes and Julia Deming triumphed over Taylor Tamblyn and Camila Westbrooks (6-2).
The Jayhawks’ success carried over in singles play against the Wildcats. Senior Koch bested Wilson (6-1, 6-2) while fellow senior Khmelnitckaia beat Westbrooks (6-2, 6-4).
KU freshman Smagina led in the third set (3-6, 6-3, 1-2), but UA’s Zanderberg claimed the match on default. Ngounoue, also a Jayhawk freshman, had another strong night at the Big 5 Challenge as she beat Furak (6-4, 6-3). Toran Ribes defeated Heynemans (6-2, 6-2) and Deming outlasted Tamblyn (6-4, 7-5) to round out the day of tennis action.
Play begins Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m., for the Jayhawks.
Live scoring is not available for the tournament, but the evening matches will have live streaming available here: https://www.playsight.com/#/livestreaming/tennis/texas-christian-university-tcu
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