Kansas Women’s Tennis 2015-16 Recruiting Class Rated 19th Nationally
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas women’s tennis picked up three signees for the 2015-16 campaign, with the class earning a No. 19 rating according to TennisRecruiting.com. KU head coach Todd Chapman announced the signing of Nina Khmelnitckaia (Moscow, Russia), Anastasiya Rychagova (Moscow, Russia) and Janet Koch (Durbanville, South Africa) earlier this spring and the three are expected to join the Jayhawks as freshman in the fall.
“It is great to get national recognition for what we believe to be a great recruiting class,” said Chapman. “I fully believe we are building something special here at KU. We look forward to Nina, Anastasia and Janet getting on campus and putting their personal mark on our program. We have put back-to-back (26th in 2014-15) solid recruiting classes together and feel we now have the chance to turn the corner. The great part is we have the 19th-ranked class and I am expecting at least one more to addition to the group.”
Khmelnitckaia signed with KU after being rated in the Top 40 in the Russian National 18 and Under Rankings and has been ranked as high as No. 564 in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior World Rankings. She reached the semifinals of the Grade 5 Alatan Tour Cup singles draw in 2013. Additionally, she reached the semifinals of the Kazan Professional Tournament in doubles action in 2014.
Rychagova joined the Jayhawk program as one of the top junior players in the world. She has been ranked as high as No. 60 in the ITF Junior World Rankings and competed in the 2013 French Open Juniors Tournament. Rychagova has multiple titles to her name in both singles and doubles play. Her top singles tournament wins include Grade 4 T52 Cup Junior ITF (2011), Grade 5 Almetievsk Open Junior ITF (2012), Grade 3 Almetievsk Open (2013) and Grade 2 33rd Tashkent Junior ITF (2013). Among her wins in doubles play are Grade 4 Samara Cup Junior ITF (2011), Grade 5 Governor’s Cup Junior ITF (2011), Grade 4 TATS Open Junior ITF (2011), Grade 5 Almetievsk Open Junior ITF (2012), Grade 2 32nd Tashkent Junior ITF (2012) and Grade 3 16th Namangan Junior ITF (2012).
Koch inked with the Jayhawks with several impressive wins under her belt. She has been ranked as high as No. 152 in the ITF Junior World Rankings and No. 3 in the South Africa Junior Rankings. She took home the title in singles play at the Grade 4 ITF Petit Camp Junior Open (2012) and the Grade 5 SAS Junior ITF 2 (2013). Additionally, she is an outstanding doubles player as she has collected the titles at the following tournaments: Grade 5 East London Junior ITF (2011), Grade 5 ITF East Africa 18 and Under (2011), Grade 4 Wanderers Junior ITF (2012), Grade 5 SAS Junior ITF 2 (2012, 2013) and Grade B2 ITF/CAT African Closed Junior 18 and Under (2013).
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.
