No. 8 Kansas sweeps No. 44 Air Force, 7-0

LAWRENCE, Kan. – No. 8 Kansas tennis blasted its way past No. 44 Air Force with a 7-0 sweep Sunday afternoon at the Jayhawk Tennis Center.

Kansas’ No. 51-ranked doubles duo of Anastasia Rychagova and Sonia Smagina bested Ashleigh Harvey and Meredith Jones, 6-2, at No. 2 doubles. The Jayhawks’ No. 3 ranked doubles tandem, Janet Koch and Nina Khmelnitckaia, then defeated TJ Fumagalli and Kristen Kerrigan, 6-4, giving KU the doubles point for the ninth-straight match.

Maria Toran Ribes and Malkia Ngounoue were trailing, 5-4, at third doubles when the Jayhawks clinched the doubles point.

Kansas senior Khmelnitckaia, playing at the third singles spot, beat Meredith Jones, 6-1, 6-3, to give KU a 2-0 lead.

At the No. 2 singles position, No. 79 Koch triumphed over Elizabeth Barnickel, 6-1, 6-2, giving the Jayhawks the 3-0 lead.

Then on court 1, No. 47 Rychagova bested Fumagalli, 6-0, 6-3, giving Kansas its fourth point and clinching the overall match.

Kansas freshman Smagina defeated Ashleigh Harvey at No. 5 singles, 6-2, 6-3, giving KU the 5-0 lead.

On court 6, Ngounoue beat Nadeen Lieberman, 6-4, 6-3, bringing the Jayhawks to within one point of the sweep.

Toran Ribes completed the Jayhawks’ sweep on court 4, defeating Kerrigan, 7-5, 6-4.
 
QUOTES
Kansas head coach Todd Chapman
“Credit to our players today because Air Force came out with great energy in doubles and plays a different style of doubles than we typically see.  I thought we adjusted well and played aggressively. In singles we did a good job of jumping out to big leads on four courts, and on the other two we responded well to being down early. This was a good weekend of tennis for our team and now the challenge is to get prepared for a tough road trip this weekend to Washington and Oregon.”

UP NEXT
The 8-1 Jayhawks next travel to the Pacific Northwest to face off against No. 26 Washington on Friday, March 1, and Oregon Sunday, March 3.

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.