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THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Kansas heads to Texas for final matches against Baylor, Texas
JACOB CLEMEN
@jclemn9
Coming off its first road win against a ranked opponent, Kansas tennis will hit the road looking to pick up a pair of important road victories against No. 8 Baylor and No. 36 Texas.
The road trip, which begins Friday in Waco, Texas, against Baylor, is Kansas' last chance to improve its standings before the Big 12 Championships, which will take place April 23-26 in Waco.
Kansas is tied with Texas for fifth in the conference at 4-3 in conference play and has
a chance to pass up to three teams heading into the season-ending tournament.
Standing in its way is an impressive Baylor team loaded with talent, including sophomore Blair Shankle, who won her second Big 12 Women's Player of the Week award in the past month.
The sophomore went undefeated last week in her matches against No. 36 Texas and No.10 Texas A&M.
Along with a talented roster, Baylor boasts a veteran group including three upperclassmen and two sophomores.
Following its match against
Baylor, Kansas will head to Austin to square off against a Texas Longhorn team that is looking to finish above .500 under first year coach Danielle Lund McNamara, who took over the program following the fall season.
Like Baylor, Texas boasts an experienced squad returning five of its six singles starters from last season.
Kansas will have to contend with junior Breaunna Addison, who is already a two-time All-American and heads both the singles and doubles lineups for Texas.
Kansas will look to build on a strong showing against
No. 29 Oklahoma after taking the match 4-3 in Norman, Okla. The Jayhawks hope the come-from-behind victory will propel them to more success moving forward.
"We talked all week about knowing we could win these types of matches. We have been so close all year and lost so many close matches, it was great to pull on through," coach Todd Chapman said in a press release.
The match against Baylor is set to begin 5 p.m. Friday, while the match in Austin will begin at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Edited by Andrew Collins
MISSY MINEAR/KANSAN
Maria Jose Cardona, a junior from Santiago, Chile, winds up for a backhand return during her singles match on March 2. The Jayhawks defeated Iowa 4-1 at the Jahhawk Tennis Center.
Royals begin 2015 with same swag
COMMENTARY
Swagger.
What is the identity of 2015 Kansas City Royals in one word? (Insert Jeopardy theme music in the background)
It may be a small sample size just eight games into the season, but this year's Royals are reminiscent to last year's ball club that roared through the postseason, going undefeated through the entire American League playoffs.
Kansas City plays with energy like no other team in Major League Baseball. A swarm of players vault out of the dugout after every home run before the player can even hit the steps. They do elaborate high-five routines.
this is not the norm for a sport in which a team has to play 162 games a year.
These hand gestures along with their boyish-like spirit is one of the many reasons why the Royals became a fan favorite, leading up to the World Series.
All of these things started during the postseason last year, when the Royals made their first postseason berth in 29 years.
So why are people suddenly annoyed with this team?
Earlier this week the Angels' website from SB Nation released
this article stating that the Royals are too cocky for their own good.
They were of course talking about the stare down between Yordano Ventura and Angels' Mike Trout, which later led to the benches being cleared. The article went on to say how the Royals shouldn't be upset that the Angels could actually score from third.
Now of course this is just one SB Nation blog, but it seems many teams and fan bases share the same thoughts as Halos Heaven.
Kansas City leads the major league in hit by pitches, a category that isn't the necessarily the best to lead in. Alex Rios was just put on the disabled list due to a fractured hand after a hit by pitch.
It's impossible to know for sure if the Royals are being intentionally hit, or if they just happen to face a bunch of erratic pitchers at the start of the year. But it's certainly a stat to keep an eye on for the time being, especially when the Royals' young ace just ticked off the reigning AL MVP.
Prior to the season,many experts picked against the Royals repeating last season's improbable success, despite falling 90 feet short of tying Game 7 of the World Series.
With experts picking against you and teams resenting you, it's hard not to be cocky when you sit atop the league's standing.
And at this moment the Royals can use the best response in sports: Scoreboard.
Swagger.
- Edited by Laura Kubicki
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