KU sweeps on day one of ITA Regionals
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The ITA Regional Championships started off with a bang as both Kansas Jayhawks doubles teams were victorious on night one of the tournament. Malkia Ngounoue and Sonia Smagina and fellow Jayhawks Julia Deming and Maria Toran Ribes triumphed over their opponents to advance onto the round of 32, when competition will continue at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex.
The Kansas freshmen tandem of Ngounoue and Smagina bested Arkansas State’s Shelby King and Shannon O’Brien, 8-3. Junior Toran Ribes teamed up with freshman Deming to defeat North Dakota’s Kaede Amano and Preethi Kasilingam, 8-7 (7-2).
Live stats and streaming are available for the ITA Regional Championships throughout the tournament. To keep up with the Jayhawks, please click here.
QUOTES
Kansas head coach Todd Chapman
On the first day of the ITA Regional Championships:
“Friday was hopefully the first step to a very successful weekend. We will judge our success by how we compete and our willingness to focus on the process of development. If we do those things, we will put ourselves in a good position on the scoreboard.”
RESULTS
Smagina/Ngounoue (Kansas) def. King/O’Brien (Arkansas State), 8-3
Toran Ribes/Deming (Kansas) def. Amano/Kasilingam (North Dakota), 8-7 (7-2)
UP NEXT
Competition at the Hawkeye Tennis Recreation Complex is set to begin Saturday morning at 9 a.m., with the round of 32 doubles bracket. The singles round of 128 is to follow, starting at 10 a.m.
Kansas doubles begins tomorrow at 9 a.m., as Deming and Toran Ribes are slated to play against Missouri’s Gruber and Goldin. Ngounoue and Smagina will play conference opponents in Iowa State’s Grib and Espindola at 9:45 a.m.
Four Jayhawks are slated to match up against Kansas State Wildcats in singles matches as Deming is paired against Ioana Gheorghita, Ngounoue will play Rosanna Maffei and freshman Plobrung Plipuech will compete against Anna Turco. Nina Khmelnitckaia will follow up her Riviera ITA All-American Doubles Championship against K-State’s Margot Decker in the singles main draw. Smagina and Toran Ribes are also matched up against Big 12 opponents in Oklahoma State’s Catherine Gilihur and Oklahoma’s Jasmine Asghar.
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