No. 16 Kansas triumphs over Baylor, 6-1

WACO, Texas – No. 16-ranked Kansas tennis won a hard-fought road match over league foe Baylor Friday night at the Hurd Tennis Center, 6-1, to improve to 11-3 overall, 2-1 in the Big 12 Conference.

Baylor falls to 5-15 overall and 0-2 in Big 12 play. 

For the second-consecutive match, the doubles point came down to a third-set tiebreaker. Kansas’ No. 3 doubles team of Maria Toran Ribes and Malkia Ngounoue triumphed over Baylor’s Angelina Shakhraichuk and Dominika Sujova, 7-6(2). Before that, the Jayhawks’ No. 61-ranked doubles tandem of Anastasia Rychagova and Sonia Smagina defeated Jessica Hinojosa and Paula Baranano, 6-3, at No. 2 doubles. Then, at first doubles, the No. 5-ranked Kansas seniors Janet Koch and Nina Khmelnitckaia fell short to Livia Kraus and Kristina Sorokolet, 6-4.
 
In singles play, Ngounoue bested Stephanie Adames on court six, 6-1, 6-0, giving the Jayhawks a 2-0 lead. Then, at No. 3 singles, Khmelnitckaia defeated Sorokolet, 6-3, 6-3, bringing Kansas one point away from victory.
 
On court five, Toran Ribes gave KU its fourth point and the match, beating Sujova, 6-0, 3-6, 6-1.
 
Even though the match had been decided, 4-0, the teams continued to compete. The Jayhawks’ Smagina was victorious over Baranano at fourth singles, 7-5, 6-3, making it 5-0.
 
On court one, No. 23-ranked Rychagova then came from one set down to defeat Hinojosa in a third-set super-tiebreaker, 3-6, 6-4, 10-4.
 
At No. 2 singles, No. 59 Kraus prevented the sweep, beating KU’s No. 101-ranked Koch, 6-2, 0-6, 6-4.

Kansas head coach Todd Chapman
“Tonight was one of those matches where we found a way when we needed to. I think we struggled in some singles and doubles positions, but in most of those situations we found a way out of them. I thought our young kids stepped up again tonight and that was good to see. They are starting to build some momentum and we will need that down the stretch.”

UP NEXT
No. 16 Kansas stays in the Lone Star state to take on Big 12 foe Texas. First serve between Kansas and Texas is scheduled for noon on Sunday, March 24 in Austin.
 
FOLLOW
@KansasTennis
/KansasTennis
@KansasTennis
 
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.