No. 38 Tulsa stops No. 30 Kansas
Janet Koch returns a point in her 6-4, 6-2 No. 3 singles win.
No. 38 Tulsa 4, No. 30 Kansas 2
Jayhawk Tennis Center
Lawrence, Kan.
April 13, 2017
DOUBLES
| No. 1 | #32 Bernard-Feigenbaum/Khmelnitckaia (KU) vs. Dadireddy/Laskutova (TU) 6-6, 1-2 DNF |
| No. 2 | Leenabanchong/Matoula (TU) def. Koch/Rychagova (KU) 7-5 |
| No. 3 | Okalova/Ploner (TU) win by forfeit |
Order of Finish: 3, 2
SINGLES
| No. 1 | #78 Rychagova (KU) def. Laskutova (TU) 6-0, 6-3 |
| No. 2 | Leenabanchong (TU) def. Bernard-Feigenbaum (KU) 7-5, 6-3 |
| No. 3 | Koch (KU) def. Dadireddy (TU) 6-4, 6-2 |
| No. 4 | Okalova (TU) def. Khmelnitckaia (KU) 6-2, 6-4 |
| No. 5 | Nikolaeva (KU) vs. Matoula (TU) 6-3, 1-6, 2-1 DNF |
| No. 6 | Cichon (TU) wins by forfeit |
Order of Finish: 6, 1, 4, 2
Stats Box Score (.PDF)
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Still without a complete lineup, Kansas tennis wasn’t able to rally behind No. 78-ranked sophomore Anastasia Rychagova’s dominating singles win and fell to No. 38 Tulsa, 4-2, at the Jayhawk Tennis Center Thursday evening.
Playing at the No. 1 spot, Rychagova won her match, 6-0, 6-3, against Ksenia Laskutova and improved to 11-3 in spring play and 22-7 overall. Sophomore Janet Koch defeated Mahitha Dadireddy at the No. 3 spot, 6-4, 6-2.
“They (Rychagova and Koch) found reasons why today,” said head coach Todd Chapman. “Found reasons why to be the best competitors they could be. It had nothing to do with whether they played their best tennis. They found reasons why to compete and to emotionally engage. That was good to see. We needed to see that from them. Hopefully that’s something we can learn from and carry on to Saturday’s match.”
Rychagova and Koch battled back-and-forth with Rongrong Lennabanchong and Martha Matoula at the No. 2 doubles spot, but ultimately lost the match, 7-5. Sophomore Nina Khmelnitckaia wasn’t able to top Martina Okalova at the No. 4 spot and dropped the match, 6-2, 6-4. Playing at the No. 2 spot, senior Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum couldn’t overcome Leenabanchong and dropped her match, 7-5, 6-3.
“The positive (thing about the loss) is we don’t need to get out (Friday) and work on a bunch of shots,” said Chapman. “We need to decide going into Saturday, are we going to, as a unit, as a group, 100 percent engage emotionally and mentally into the match and give ourselves and our team the best chance to be successful.”
The Jayhawks will host in-state rival Kansas State Saturday, at the Jayhawk Tennis Center. A full day of festivities begins at 9 a.m., with first serve scheduled for 1 p.m., followed by a senior recognition ceremony.
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