The Kansas women’s tennis team will get a chance to play for a national championship, but the Jayhawks likely will have to go through one of the top three teams in the country to get there.
KU on Monday was selected for the 13th time in program history to play in the NCAA women’s tennis national championship tournament. Finishing the regular season ranked 25th in the country, KU will open the tournament on Friday against the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, which ended the season as the 40th ranked team in the country. The first round match will take place in Raleigh, North Carolina.
But if KUmgets past Charlotte — a Conference USA team with a 22-6 record — KU’s likely foe will be North Carolina State. It is ranked third overall in the 64-team tournament and is hosting first round action on Friday and Saturday. NC State, which has a 23-4 record, is playing unranked South Carolina State in its opening match.
KU enters the tournament with a 14-7 overall record and a 4-6 mark in Big 12 play, which left KU tied for fifth in the 10-team conference.
But KU does go into the tournament with some firepower on the court. Kansas’ Malkia Ngounoue and Heike Janse Van Vuuren earned All-Big 12 honors with Ngounoue named All-Big 12 First Team in singles. Ngounoue and Van Vuuren were named All-Big 12 Second Team in doubles and Van Vuuren earned All-Freshman Team honors.
Ngounoue was KU’s top singles player with a 12-6 dual record during the season. Redshirt sophomore Maria Titova played in the No. 2 singles position and finished with a 7-6 record, while Carmen Roxana Manu compiled a 10-6 record in the No. 3 singles spot.
Ngounoue and Van Vuuren partnered to an 11-5 dual record as the No. 1 doubles team for the Jayhawks. Titova and freshman Tamari Gagoshidze paired for a 6-9 dual record as the No. 2 doubles team.
Team wise, KU picked up big victories over No. 75 Missouri, No. 44 SMU, No. 22 Old Dominion, No. 62 West Virginia, No. 53 Baylor and NO. 68 Tulsa during the course of the season. They also should be well-seasoned coming out of the Big 12 Conference. The conference was won by two-time defending national champion Texas.
Texas is ranked No. 8 in the tournament and is hosting games this weekend. Other Big 12 teams that made the tournament include: Iowa State, ranked 11th; Oklahoma, ranked 13th; Texas Tech; Baylor; and Oklahoma State.
Kansas played in last year’s NCAA tournament, but was eliminated in the first round. Charlotte is playing in its first NCAA tournament.
The tournament is single elimination, with the last team standing in the regionals moving on to super regionals that will be played at eight sites across the country on May 12 or 13. The eight teams advancing from the super regionals will compete for the national title May 17-20 in Orlando, Florida.