RCW: Sport Spotlight 4.21 (Tennis)

Janet wins her match 4-6, 6-3, 6-3! #RockChalk pic.twitter.com/PPlzcR09aD

— Kansas Tennis (@KansasTennis) February 3, 2018

A home opener W ?? ??: @mikegunnoephoto

A post shared by Kansas Tennis (@kansastennis) on Feb 3, 2018 at 3:14pm PST

Kansas junior Janet Koch clinched Kansas’ home opener against North Carolina State Saturday at the Jayhawk Tennis Center. The 4-3 victory moved KU to 2-2 on the season.
 
The Jayhawks dropped the doubles point, falling behind early in the match. Opening singles play having to win four out of six matches, No. 112 Nina Khmelnitckaia put Kansas on the board after her win on court four. Maria Toran Ribes gave Kansas a 2-1 lead with her victory at the No. 5 spot. Freshman Carla Pons Martorell lost on court six and the match was tied at 2-2.
 
“I think it was great that we were able to come up with the win after a very disappointing doubles point,” said Koch. “We knew they were going to make it tough on us.”
 
Junior and No. 1-ranked Anastasia Rychagova prevailed in three sets to give Kansas the advantage, 3-2. Playing next to Rychagova, No. 90-ranked Koch showed that she was not going down to No. 61 Claudia Wiktorin without a fight. After falling in the first set, 6-4, Koch came back to win two-consecutive sets to ultimately take her match, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, and put the Jayhawks on a two-match winning streak.
 
Koch’s victory snapped a five-match singles losing streak. She now has an 11-9 singles record this season.
 
“We still have a lot of work to do and I’m excited to see how we build from this win,” said Koch. “We faced a lot of adversity and were able to overcome it in some spots. We need to keep working and good things will come our way.”
 
Kansas will have a week off before hosting Oregon (3 p.m.) and William & Mary (12 p.m.) on February 16 and 18, respectively. Both matches will take place at the Jayhawk Tennis Center at Rock Chalk Park.