By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Sonia Smagina loved her four years at the University of Kansas and the teammates and coaches she had with the Jayhawks.
Tennis star Sonia Smagina has made a big splash for Washburn this fall after transferring from Kansas. [Photo courtesy of ITA]
But with one year of eligibility remaining, the native of Penza, Russia decided it was time for a change, transferring to Washburn University for her final season.
It's a move that's already paid dividends for Smagina and the Ichabod program.
"I was at Kansas for four years, but my second year COVID happened and the NCAA gave us a chance to compete another year,'' Smagina said. "I felt like it was time for me to go and do something different.
"It was so tough (at KU) that there's no time for yourself . Basically you think about only your team and how the team is doing and there's no time to think about what you want from life, so I decided to go somewhere where it wasn't going to be that much of tennis matches and practice to figure out what I want to do with my life.''
Washburn fit the bill for what Smagina was looking from both a tennis standpoint, with the Ichabods a national-caliiber Division II program, and from the aspect of still being close to her friends in Lawrence.
"This was one of the ideas because I'm still close to my (Kansas) team,'' Smagina said. "I decided to go here because I still want to go and cheer for them, support them. I love my coach (Todd Chapman) so much, he's the best, and I wanted to be close to them.''
Smagina said that switching schools and tennis programs was an adjustment, but that she's enjoying life at Washburn.
"It's very different here compared to D-I, but I like it,'' she said. "I like the campus. What I didn't like about Lawrence was our campus was on a hill so every time we had individual (workouts) at 6:30 to 7:30 (a.m.) and you have class at 8 you've got to run there, uphill all the time, so I didn't like that. It's nice to have this small campus and not on a hill.''
Smagina was named to the All-Big 12 Freshman team at Kansas and to the All-Big 12 singles second team and All-Big 12 doubles first team in 2019. She was 17-4 in singles during her freshman season and 16-5 in doubles.
While in high school Smagina accumulated 12 singles and 23 career doubles wins on the International Tennis Federation pro circuit.
She said that D-II tennis is more laid back than D-I, which suits what Smagina, who is working on her Master's degree in business, is trying to do both on and off the court
"I think (Kirby Ronning) trusts me because I believe I'm a pretty high level person, especially for D-II, so I can sometimes manage my practices and that's kind of nice to do,'' she said.
Smagina has already made her mark for the WU program, recently becoming only the second women's player in Ichabod history to compete in the ITA National Cup competition.
Smagina, who went 9-1 in singles in the fall season, posted three straight wins to advance to the championship match at Mount Barry, Ga. before dropping a tough three-set decision to Barry's Deniz Khazan, who posted a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 win.
It was a disappointing end for Smagina, who was trying to join former Washburn Rural star Madeline Hill as an ITA Cup champion for Washburn, but she said it was an eye-opener and good preparation for the spring 2023 season.
"I was pretty close to taking (the title match) from her, but I had never saw her play and I really didn't have a plan when I was going there,'' Smagina said.
"It was for sure a good experience because I saw the level of D-II. Most people think, especially at D-I, that D-II is not really hard, blah, blah, blah, but it is hard. These girls can play tennis.''
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