No. 31 Kansas downs WVU, 4-1, to advance in the Big 12 Championship
Janet Koch and Anastasia Rychagova talk strategy during their doubles match Thursday.
No. 31 Kansas 4, West Virginia 1
Headington Family Tennis Center
Norman, Oklahoma
April 27, 2017
DOUBLES
| No. 1 | #35 Bernard-Feigenbaum/Khmelnitckaia (KU) def. Mrgole/Jordan (WVU) 6-3 |
| No. 2 | Koch/Rychagova (KU) def. Goetz/Choo (WVU) 6-3 |
| No. 3 | Shaker/Duran (WVU) win by forfeit |
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
SINGLES
| No. 1 | #73 Rychagova (KU) def. Mrgole (WVU) 6-2, 7-5 |
| No. 2 | Bernard-Feigenbaum (KU) vs. Goetz (WVU) DNF 6-1, 4-2 |
| No. 3 | Koch (KU) def. Jordan (WVU) 6-2, 6-4 |
| No. 4 | Khmelnitckaia (KU) vs. Choo (WVU) DNF 5-7, 2-1 |
| No. 5 | Nikolaeva (KU) def. Stolar (WVU) 6–0, 6-2 |
| No. 6 | Rosiello (WVU) win by forfeit |
Order of Finish: 6, 5, 3, 1
Stats Box Score (.PDF)
NORMAN, Okla. – The No. 31-ranked Kansas women’s tennis team had a quick start to its match Thursday with two doubles wins to give the Jayhawks a, 4-1, win over West Virginia on the first day of the Big 12 Championship at the Headington Family Tennis Center.
KU sophomore duo of Anastasia Rychagova and Janet Koch controlled their match at the No. 2 spot against Paula Goetz and Lyn Yuen Choo to come out on top, 6-3. The pair has now won four-consecutive matches and improved their overall record to 14-7.
No. 35-ranked Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum and Nina Khmelnitckaia battled at the No. 1 spot with Kaja Mrgole and Christina Jordan. Khmelnitckaia had back-to-back aces to even the set, 2-2. Later on, Kansas went up, 4-3, after a double fault from WVU and never looked back, winning the match, 6-3, and giving KU the doubles point.
“I think right in the middle of both of both doubles we had a decision to make,” said head coach Todd Chapman. “We decided to get aggressive and stick with the game plan. I thought both courts from the middle of doubles on did a really good job with our energy, competitiveness and willingness to go for some shots. We definitely took that over to singles, which is great to see. It’s something we’ve talked about – carrying that momentum over especially after winning the doubles point.”
With a forfeit on court six, the match was tied at 1-1 heading into singles play. Continuing the momentum from doubles, freshman Tatiana Nikolaeva cruised to a, 6-0, 6-2, victory against Makenzie Stolar at the No. 5 spot.
Koch won her first match, 6-2, and rallied in her second set to come out on top, 6-4, at the No. 3 spot against Jordan, putting the Jayhawks up, 3-1. Koch trailed the second set 4-0, before rattling off six-straight games for the win.
About 20 seconds after Koch won her match, No. 73-ranked Rychagova battled in her second set against Mrgole at the No. 1 spot, ultimately winning the match, 6-2, 7-5, and clinching the match for Kansas, 4-1.
“I thought the first 30 or 45 minutes of singles we did a really good job,” said Chapman. “West Virginia started to challenge us a little bit and didn’t make things easy on us. I like the response we had, we picked it up. Great finish by Janet after winning six-straight games to win the second set after being down 4-0. I really like the energy, effort and competitiveness we played with. Now we’ll get ready for a really good Oklahoma State team tomorrow.”
The No. 7 seeded Jayhawks will face the No. 2 seed and No. 9 nationally ranked Oklahoma State at 4 p.m., Friday, at the Headington Tennis Center. OSU downed the Jayhawks, 4-0, during the regular season on April 9 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
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