April 7, 2011

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky women’s tennis team will hit the road for the final time in the regular season this weekend when it heads south to face Arkansas and LSU on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

The Wildcats (4-16, 2-6 Southeastern Conference) will look to their three co-team leaders in singles victories, senior Megan Broderick, sophomore Jessica Stiles and freshman Khristina Blajkevitch, to guide them against the Razorbacks and Tigers. Each member of the trio has eight singles victories this spring.

Blajkevitch leads the Cats with five singles victories in conference play, including a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Madeleine Saari-Bystrom of South Carolina on Sunday. Blajkevitch has won four of her last five singles matches, including a victory over Alex Clay of Alabama, the No. 104 ranked player in the country at the time.

Broderick and Blajkevitch continue to guide UK at No. 1 doubles with a team-high four victories and co-team high of two victories in SEC play.

Arkansas enters Friday’s match holding the No. 17 ranking in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s team rankings. The Razorbacks are led by Anouk Tigu in singles, the No. 27 ranked player. Tigu is 11-6 in singles this year. Tigu and Claudine Paulson have a 14-6 record together in doubles play and are ranked the No. 24 duo in the country. Arkansas split its two matches last weekend, falling to Alabama 4-3 before topping Auburn 6-1.

The Tigers, led by Whitney Wolf, are No. 54 in the latest team rankings. Wolf is the No. 66 singles player in the country. Wolf and Kaitlin Burns are the No. 62 doubles team in the land. LSU split its two matches last weekend, defeating Auburn 5-2 on Friday before falling 7-0 to No. 35 Alabama on Sunday.

Kentucky is looking for its first victory over either Arkansas or LSU since 2007. Arkansas defeated UK 4-3 last season while LSU topped the Cats 6-1.

Check out UKatheltics.com for recaps of each of Kentucky’s matches this weekend and for all Kentucky women’s tennis news.