No. 14 Kansas tops West Virginia, 6-1
LAWRENCE, Kan. – No. 14-ranked Kansas defeated West Virginia, 6-1, Sunday afternoon at the Jayhawk Tennis Center. The Jayhawks’ fourth-straight Big 12 Conference victory moves them into third place in the conference behind Texas and Oklahoma State. Kansas is now 15-4 overall, 6-2 in the Big 12.
The country’s No. 1-ranked duo of Janet Koch and Nina Khmelnitckaia made quick work of their match at first singles, blanking the Mountaineers’ Sofia Duran and Anstasia Bovolskaia, 6-0. Jayhawks Anastasia Rychagova and Sonia Smagina, ranked No. 60 in the nation, bested Paula Goetz and Nicole Roc, 6-2, at No. 2 doubles, giving Kansas the doubles point.
The doubles match on court 3 between KU’s Maria Toran Ribes and Malkia Ngounoue and WVU’s Anne-Sophie Courteau and Abigail Rosiello went unfinished after Kansas claimed the doubles point.
Kansas has now won the doubles point in 18 out of 19 dual matches this season. The Jayhawks opened the 2019 season by securing the doubles point in 11-straight matches, and now have another win streak of seven in a row.
Plobrung Plipuech extended KU’s lead to 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Duran at No. 2 singles.
On court 1, No. 113-ranked Koch, playing in place of a resting Rychagova, bested Christina Jordan, 6-3, 6-2, moving Kansas one point away from the win.
Ngounoue clinched the match for the Jayhawks at No. 6 singles with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Giovanna Caputo.
Jayhawk senior Khmelnitckaia then defeated Bovolskaia in a third-set super tiebreaker, 6-2, 3-6, 11-9, at No. 4 singles.
At No. 3 singles, Smagina bested Goetz, 6-3, 7-6(3), giving KU a 6-0 lead.
In the final match of the afternoon, Toran Ribes fell short to Giovanna Caputo at No. 5 singles, also in a super tiebreaker, 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 10-4, to close out the scoring.
UP NEXT
Kansas tennis concludes the Big 12 Conference regular-season play with the Dillon’s Sunflower Showdown against Kansas State Saturday, April 13, at the Jayhawk Tennis Center. Saturday will be Senior Day for Nina Khmelnitckaia, Janet Koch and Anastasia Rychagova. First serve is slated for 1 p.m.
