Completed Event: Tennis versus Blue Gray National Tennis Classic on September 12, 2025 ,
Final
Tennis
Blue Gray National Tennis Classic
Iowa State University Athletics
Friday, April 21
Lawrence, Kan.
Noon
Iowa State University
vs
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Kansas
Iowa State Faces Off With Kansas At Big 12 Championships
04.20.2023 | Tennis
AMES, Iowa – No. 11 Iowa State will go head-to-head with host school and sixth seed, No. 28 Kansas, on Friday in its opening draw of the 2023 Big 12 Championship. The Cyclones finished the regular season 7-2 in conference play to claim the No. 3 seed headed into the weekend.
The Schedule
Friday, Apr. 21 – Noon CT
No. 11 Iowa State (17-4, 7-2) vs. No. 28 Kansas (14-6, 4-5)
Jayhawk Tennis Center – Lawrence, Kan.
Following the Matches
Live stats link is available at the top of the page.
The Series
Iowa State is 7-47 all time against Kansas, most recently taking down the Jayhawks at home, 6-1, earlier this season.
Last Time Out
Head coach Boomer Saia and his squad earned their seventh sweep of the season yesterday afternoon with a, 4-0, victory over West Virginia to conclude regular season play. To read more about yesterday afternoon, click here.
Player to Watch
Sophomore Ange Oby Kajuru is coming off of Big 12 Player of the Week Honors after her performance last week. This is the second time this year and fourth time in her career Kajuru has taken home the weekly honor.
This season, Kajuru owns a singles winning percentage of .821, the highest among her peers. In conference play, the Tokyo, Japan native has played alongside newcomer Xinyi Nong, and the two boast a record of 7-1, including an impressive victory against Oklahoma's then No. 17 Layne Sleeth and Alexandra Pisareva.
In her first ever Big 12 Tournament last season, Kajuru finished 1-1 in singles and went 2-0 in doubles while playing with Chie Kezuka.
Cyclone Tennis Quick Hit
This year, Iowa State secured a winning record at home, on the road and at neutral sites in the same season for the first time since 1984-85 and just the second time in school history.
In dual matches, the Cyclones went 10-4 against ranked opponents, including sweeps against then No. 40 Iowa and No. 50 TCU.
Big 12 Championship
Coming off of the best conference regular season finish in program history, the No. 3 seed is the highest seed the Iowa State has ever earned in the Big 12 tournament.
Saia and his team will be looking to advance past the opening round for the third season in a row. Last year, the Cyclones the defeated West Virginia, 4-0, in their opening draw, but went on to lose to Texas, 4-0, in the quarterfinals.
In the Rankings
In this week's Intercollegiate Tennis Association's rankings, the Cyclones moved up a spot to No. 11. No. 67 Thasaporn Naklo and No. 78 Kajuru are the two Cyclones ranked in singles. In doubles, Anna Supapitch Kuearum and Naklo remained at the No. 52 spot, Kajuru and Nong were ranked No. 64, and Kajuru and Chie Kezuka close out the rankings at No. 62.
Kansas checks in at the No. 28 spot this week. No. 69 Malkia Ngounoue is the lone singles player ranked for the Jayhawks and Ngounoue and Heike Janse are the only doubles pairing ranked at No. 51.
Follow the Cyclones
Keep up with Iowa State Tennis by following @CycloneTEN on Twitter, @iowastatetennis on Instagram, and Iowa State Tennis on Facebook
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Players Mentioned
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