No. 20 Jayhawks dominate Gonzaga, 6-1

Tatiana Nikolaeva and Janet Koch celebrate after their doubles win.

Kansas 6, Gonzaga 1
Jayhawk Tennis Center
Lawrence, Kan.
March 4, 2018

DOUBLES

Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2

SINGLES

Order of Finish: 2, 4, 1, 6, 5, 3

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas junior Anastasia Rychagova notched a pair of wins in a 6-1 Jayhawk victory against Gonzaga Friday at the Jayhawk Tennis Center.
 
After defeating the Bulldogs, KU is now 7-3 on the season, while Gonzaga moved to 8-4 overall. The win was the Jayhawks’ sixth-straight home win, including five this season.
 
No. 1 Rychagova’s first set with Sophie Whittle went back and forth in the beginning before Rychagova won four-straight games to claim the set, 6-2. Rychagova then downed Whittle in the second set, 6-1, to clinch the match for the Jayhawks, 4-0. She now has a 17-2 overall singles record, including a perfect 7-0 in dual-play matches.
 
Playing with Nina Khmelnitckaia in doubles, the No. 29-ranked duo cruised to a, 6-2, victory over No. 47 Whittle and Graciela Rosas on court one. The pair’s victory put their overall mark at 12-4, with a 5-2 record in dual play.
 
“I felt like we were fortunate to get out of doubles with the point,” said head coach Todd Chapman. “Credit to No. 2 doubles for fighting and finding a way to get back in the match. Down 1-4 they started playing much better tennis, but you have to be careful putting yourself in those positions because it’s not always going to go your way.”
 
Janet Koch and Tatiana Nikolaeva came back from a 4-1 deficit at the No. 2 spot against Domonique Garley and Kate Ketels to win five games in-a-row and take the match, 6-4, and give Kansas the doubles point.
 
In singles, on court two, No. 77 Despoina Vogasari breezed through her first set, 6-1, with Rosas. In her second set, Vogasari took a 6-2 victory to put KU up, 2-0, in the overall match. Khmelnitckaia lost only the first game of her first set to top Haruna Tsuruta, 6-1, at the No. 4 position. In an identical second set, Khmelnitckaia extended Kansas’ lead to 3-0 with her 6-1, 6-1 win.
 
“Across the board in singles we came out and responded,” said Chapman. “That’s the challenge, to come out and get after it, apply pressure and put Gonzaga in a tough position. I thought we did that. I was pleased with the results today. It was a little bit tough conditions, but the girls responded well and I thought our competitiveness was good in singles.”
 
Tatiana Nikolaeva battled with Alex Bourguigon on court six and ultimately won the first set, 6-3. Nikoaelva played an identical second set to win her match, 6-3, 6-3. Maria Toran Ribes blanked Ketels at the No. 5 spot to take the first set, 6-0. She came back from being down, 3-1, to win her second set, 6-4.
 
Garley won two-consecutive games, but Janet Koch came out on top in the first set, 6-2, on court three. In the second set Koch could not hold on to her 5-3 lead and fell to Garley, 7-5. They then played a match tiebreaker where Garley was victorious, 10-7 to take the match and score Gonzaga’s only point of the day.
 
In doubles, Vogasari and Toran Ribes fell, 6-2, to the pair of Bourguigon and Tsuruta at the No. 3 position.
 
“Tulsa is someone that’s had our number in the past,” said Chapman. “Hopefully we have a great week of practice because we know they’ll be tough. They’re tough year in and year out and have a great program and they’re well coached. We know we have a tough task in front of us on the road. Hopefully we’re excited about that and have some motivation to go down there and give it our best effort.”
 
Kansas will travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma for its last nonconference match of the season Friday at 3:30 p.m., at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
 
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