Jan. 20, 2012
Lexington, Ky. – The University of Kentucky women’s tennis team opened regular season play with a win. The team faced No. 54 Marshall on their home turf, the Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Center, and took the match, 5-2.
The Wildcats began the match with a dominating performance in doubles. Jessica Stiles and Khristina Blajkevitch, the 34th-ranked doubles team, took on the 35th-ranked doubles team of Dominika Zaprazna and Maria Voscekova. The duos were neck-in-neck throughout the entire match, requiring a tiebreaker to decide the result. Ultimately, Stiles and Blajkevitch came out on top in the grueling match, winning 9-8 (8).
Sophomore Caitlin McGraw paired up with Edmée Morin-Kougoucheff to face Kara Kusin and Kia Broomfield. The pair held control throughout the match, barely faltering, to take the match,8-2. Stephanie Fox and Cece Witten had similar results, as they breezed through their match against Ellie Ball and Karlyn Timko to win, 8-1.
Fox transferred her success to her singles play, where she played at a lightning pace against Kia Broomfield. The match was over in only 34 minutes, as Fox grabbed the 6-0, 6-0 win.
Jessica Stiles also had a relatively smooth match, taking on Zaprazna once again. The two played for a 6-1, 6-0, final score.
McGraw and Morin-Kougoucheff were evenly matched with their singles opponents. McGraw took on Voscekova and the two battled, but McGraw came out with the 6-2, 6-3, win. Morin-Kougoucheff started off even with her opponent, having to work hard to take the first set 6-4, but then took over the match as she won the second set, 6-1, to take the victory
The most intense play came at the end of the day from sophomore Misha Testerman, who faced Kristina Kopricina. The two rallied endlessly in the first set until Testerman finally grabbed the set, 6-4. While the rallying was still prevelant in the second set, Koprcina swept Testerma, winning it, 6-0. As the match had already gone for 56 minutes, it was decided that the final set would be a tiebreaker instead of a third set. The two continued their back-and-forth play until Koprcina finally took the match, as she won the tiebreaker by two.
After a strong showing in their first home match of the season, the Wildcats look forward to hosting both Belmont and Morehead State on Jan. 22. The match against Belmont will begin at 11:00 a.m. ET and the match against Morehead will follow at 6 p.m. ET.
For continuing coverage of UK women’s tennis log on to UKathletics.com.
AGATE
Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex
Lexington, Ky.
January 20, 2012
Kentucky 5, No. 54 Marshall 2
Doubles Competition:
1) Stiles/Blajkevitch (UK) def. Zaprazna/Voscekova (MU) 9-8 (8)
2) McGraw/Moring (UK) def. Kusin/Broomfield (MU) 8-2
3) Fox/Witten (UK) def. Timko/Bal (MU) 8-1
Singles Competition:
1) Jessica Stiles (UK) def. Dominka Zaprazna (MU) 6-1, 6-0
2) Caitlin McGraw (UK) def. Maria Coscekova (MU) 6-2, 6-3
3) Ellie Ball (MU) def. Khristina Blajkevitch (UK) 6-2, 3-6, 0-1 inj.
4) Stephanie Fox (UK) def. Kia Broomfield (MU) 6-0, 6-0
5) Edmee Morin (UK) def. Kara Kucin (MU) 6-4, 6-1
6) Kristina Koprcina (MU) def. Misha Testerman (UK) 4-6, 6-0 (10)
Order of Finish:
Doubles: 2, 3*, 1
Singles: 4, 1, 2*, 5, 6
