No. 17 Kansas hosts No. 12 Texas Friday
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas junior Anastasia Rychagova brings her eight-match win streak to the No. 17 Jayhawks’ match up against No. 12 Texas at 5 p.m., Friday at the Jayhawk Tennis Center.
The Longhorns (9-4) lead the all-time series with KU (9-3, 1-0), 28-1. The last time Texas came to Lawrence (March 18, 2016), the Jayhawks claimed a 4-3 win to give Kansas its first-ever program victory over the Longhorns.
Entering Friday’s tilt, the Jayhawks are riding a five-match win streak, including winning nine of their last 10. They are also undefeated at home this season with a 6-0 mark.
“We’re definitely trending in the right way and learning to compete as a team through the entirety of a match,” said head coach Todd Chapman. “That’s something we struggled with earlier in the year – putting together a good doubles point and six quality singles matches. We’re getting closer and closer to that happening every match. We’re headed in the right direction there.”
Rychagova is currently the No. 3-ranked player in the nation with a perfect 8-0 dual-play record. Overall she sits at 18-2 with an 11-1 mark against ranked opponents. Senior Despoina Vogasari holds the No. 119 spot and is 18-9 overall and 8-4 in duals. She has won five-consecutive matches and is 8-2 in her last 10.
Junior Nina Khmelnitckaia is also on a five-match win streak, holding a 7-4 dual mark, while being 16-8 overall. Her and Rychagova, who are the nation’s No. 25-ranked doubles team, have also won five-straight matches. The duo owns a 7-2 dual-play mark at the No. 1 position and are 14-4 overall.
“The schedule only gets tougher,” said Chapman. “As a coach, I’m excited about that because it’s going to tell us where we really are. Hopefully the team is excited that we have some great opportunities in front of us with the teams we’re about to face. I know that we’re going to be pushed and challenged and grow and get better from that.”
The Longhorns are on a roll, having won four matches in-a-row after dropping three at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Team Indoor Championships in February. So far this season, Texas has squared up against eight ranked opponents and are 5-3 in those situations.
“Texas is a very good team,” said Chapman. “They’re very well coached. They compete very hard and have a lot of talent on their team. I definitely expect them to give us their best shot. Our goal is to be excited to be able to play such a quality program. The expectation is it’s going to be a great college match.”
UT has four players ranked in the ITA singles poll, including No. 1-ranked Bianca Turati, No. 34 Anna Turati, Petra Granic at No. 64 and Katie Pouluta as the No. 91 player. Bianca Turati has a 20-2 overall record and is 8-1 in dual matches at the No. 1 position. Her sister, Anna Turati, has a 6-1 mark at the No. 2 spot and is 1-0 on court three this spring to tally and overall mark of 16-2.
Granic is also ranked in doubles with Bojana Markovic as the No. 44 duo, but have a 2-4 overall record this season. The Texas tandem is 2-1 in duals thus far and has played every spot once.
Admission is free for the public and pizza will be served between doubles and singles.
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