Koch crowned ITA Regional Champion
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Kansas tennis has now won back-to-back tournament titles. One week after Nina Khmelnitckaia and Janet Koch won the doubles title at the prestigious Riviera ITA All-American Championships, Koch was crowned the singles champion at the ITA Regional Championships Tuesday. It was an all-Jayhawk final in Iowa City, where Koch defeated teammate Maria Toran Ribes.
In the semifinals, junior Toran Ribes matched up against Khmelnitckaia, where she bested the senior, 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the final round. Koch triumphed over conference foe Sofia Blanco of Oklahoma State, 6-4, 7-6 (1) to reach the finals.
In the finals, Koch was victorious over Toran Ribes, 7-5, 6-3. The championship marks the second for Koch and the Kansas tennis team in the 2018 fall season.
QUOTES
Kansas head coach Todd Chapman
On Janet Koch winning the singles championship at the ITA Regional Championships:
“We are extremely proud of our team and how each of them competed the last five days. The ladies represented our team, the university and themselves extremely well. To have three of the four semifinalists and both the champion and runner-up is unprecedented for our program. This group is starting to realize their potential, which is great moving forward. We will continue to take things one step at a time and continue to focus on working hard every day and being a developmentally focused program.”
NOTABLES
- The last Jayhawk in the singles bracket finals of the ITA Regional Championship was Debbie Vogasari, who finished runner-up in 2017.
- Janet Koch becomes the first Kansas champion of the singles ITA Regional Championship since Kylie Hunt in 1995.
RESULTS
Singles
Toran Ribes (Kansas) def. Khmelnitckaia (Kansas), 6-3, 6-2
Koch (Kansas) def. Blanco (Oklahoma State), 6-4, 7-6 (1)
Koch (Kansas) def. Toran Ribes (Kansas), 7-5, 6-3
UP NEXT
Kansas tennis will host a Pro-Am at the Jayhawk Tennis Center on Saturday, Oct. 20. Jayhawk fans have a unique opportunity to pay for the chance to play with, or against, their favorite KU student-athletes. For more information on the Pro-Am, please see the official release here.
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