Kansas Tennis Opens 2016 Spring Season with a Pair of Home Matches Monday

THE BASELINEKansas women’s tennis will open its 2016 spring campaign with a boost of momentum after a strong 2015 fall campaign, capped by freshman Anastasiya Rychagova’s appearance at the United States Tennis Association (USTA)/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. Kansas returns four players from last year’s team that finished sixth in the 2015 Big 12 Conference standings, its highest finish in six seasons. In addition, the Jayhawks added three outstanding players to their roster for the 2016 campaign, each of whom figures to see a lot of action in their inaugural collegiate season.

In their first action of the spring season, KU will host Nebraska-Omaha (9 a.m.) and Drake (4 p.m.) in a doubleheader at the Jayhawk Tennis Center. 
THE SERIES: KANSAS VS. NEBRASKA-OMAHAKansas (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) leads the all-time series with Nebraska-Omaha, 1-0. The last match-up between the two schools was in 2013 when the Jayhawks topped the Mavericks, 7-0, in Lawrence.
SCOUTING THE MAVERICKSTabbed to finish sixth in the seven-team Summit League, Nebraska-Omaha returns a pair of all-conference honorees to its roster with junior Hylan Miller, who was named all-conference in 2014, and sophomore Michelle Lo, who earned all-league recognition in 2015.
THE SERIES: KANSAS vs. DRAKEKansas leads the all-time series with Drake, 17-2. The last match-up between the two schools was in 2013 when the Jayhawks topped the Bulldogs, 5-2, in Lawrence. Kansas has won 12-straight matches in the series.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGSDrake returns three 2015 All-Missouri Valley Conference honorees in Mariel Ante, Adrienne Jensen and Maddie Johnson. Ante and Johnson teamed up for first-team honors at No. 1 doubles. Drake welcomes just one freshman, Kenya Williams, to a veteran lineup for 2016.
UP NEXTKansas will travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for matches against the hometown Arkansas Razorbacks and the Purdue Boilermakers. Arkansas is currently ranked 36th in the latest ITA rankings, while Purdue is ranked 44th. The matches will be played at host Arkansas’ Billingsley Tennis Center on Jan. 29-30. 
KEEPING UP WITH KANSASLive match statistics can be found on KUAthletics.com or by following the @KansasTennis on Twitter.