Jayhawks Top No. 36 Arkansas, 4-1

Kansas 4, No. 36 Arkansas 1
BillingsleyTennis Center
January 29, 2016
Doubles
No. 1 – Nina Khmelnitckaia/Janet Koch (KU) def. Agne Cepelyte/Shannon Hudson (ARK) 7-5
No. 2- Flauvia Araugo/Makenzie Craft (ARK) def. Maria Jose Cardona/Summer Collins (KU) 6-1
No. 3 –  Smith Hinton/Anastasiya Rychagova (KU) def Mia Jurasic/Ana Oparenovic (ARK) 6-2
Order of Finish: 2,3,1
Singles
No. 1 – Anastasiya Rychagova (KU) def. Shannon Hudson (ARK) 7-5, 6-2
No. 2 – Smith Hinton (KU) vs. Makenzie Craft (ARK) 6-4, 4-6, 1-2 Unfinished
No. 3 – Ana Oparenovic (ARK) def. Nina Khmelnitckaia (KU) 6-0, 6-4
No. 4 – Janet Koch (KU) def. Mia Jurasic (ARK) 6-4, 6-3
No. 5 – Summer Collins (KU) def. Agne Cepelyte (ARK) 6-2, 6-2
No. 6 –  Maria Jose Cardona (KU) vs. Sasha Shkorupeieva (ARK) 5-7, 6-3, 1-2 Unfinished
Order of Finish: 3,5,4,1

Box Score
 

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Kansas women’s tennis continued its season-opening win streak as it went on the road to knock off No. 36 Arkansas at the Billingsley Tennis Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The win moved KU to 3-0 on the season and marked the Jayhawks’ first win over a ranked team in 2016.
 
“I am proud of the girls today for how hard they competed as a team,” said Kansas head coach Todd Chapman. “It was a solid team win that will help us down the road.”
 
Kansas started off the match by securing the doubles point after claiming wins on two of the three doubles courts. Arkansas took court two in doubles as KU’s pair of sophomore Summer Collins and senior Maria Jose Cardona were defeated by Flauvia Araugo and Makenzie Craft, 6-1.
 
The Jayhawks came storming back to pick up a win on court three and even the doubles contest as freshman Anastasiya Rychagova and sophomore Smith Hinton defeated Razorbacks Ana Oparenovic and Mia Jurasic of Arkansas, 6-2.
 
Kansas was able to put its first point on the board by winning on court one in doubles and taking the doubles point. Freshmen Nina Khmelnitckaia and Janet Koch stayed on serve with Arkansas’ Agne Cepelyte and Shannon Hudson until the score was knotted at 5-5. The Jayhawk duo then won the final two games to take the match, 7-5.
 
Arkansas countered back in singles play, evening the score at 1-1 as Oparenovice topped Khmelnitckaia, 6-0, 6-4, on court three. Collins put Kansas in the lead for good as she made quick work of Cepelyte, 6-2, 6-2, on court five.
 
The Jayhawks opened up a 3-1 lead with Koch’s win over Jurasic on court four. Koch topped her Arkansas counterpart, 6-3, 6-4.
 
Kansas was able to close out the 4-1 win over the Razorbacks as Rychagova stayed undefeated in dual-match play on court one with a hard-fought 7-5, 6-2 win over Hudson.  
 
“It is not easy to win at Arkansas, and to do it with such a young team is exciting,” said Chapman. “We now have to quickly turn our focus to tomorrow and beating Purdue.”
 
Up Next
Kansas will remain in Fayetteville for a match against Purdue Saturday, Jan. 30. The Jayhawks will take on the 45th-ranked Boilermakers at 2 p.m., in the Billingsley Tennis Center. 
 
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