GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 22 Kentucky women’s tennis team fell Sunday 6-1 to the third-ranked Florida Gators at the Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Fla. The loss snapped the Cats’ season-best seven match winning streak. The Cats now own an 8-2 record in the Southeastern Conference while Florida moves to a perfect 10-0 in the SEC and 17-1 overall. The Gators clinched at least a share of the SEC regular season title with the win.
UK (15-7) got off to a strong start by winning all three doubles matches to go up 1-0 on UF. Kim Coventry and Carolina Escamilla posted a quick 8-4 victory over 28th-ranked Whitney Benik and Alexis Gordon of Florida, before Lara Maurer and Joelle Schwenk cruised past 36th-ranked Lolita Frangulyan and Diana Srebovic, 8-5. Danielle Petrisko and Caroline Winebrenner topped No. 53 Keri Robison and Nina Suvak, 8-6, as the Wildcats defeated ranked doubles tandems at each of the three positions.
The Cats, however, dropped each of their six singles matches. Florida?s Suvak won her 12th consecutive singles match with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Petrisko. Escamilla had her 10-match win streak snapped, falling to Alex Liles, 6-2, 6-0 in the fifth singles position.
Schwenk dropped just her second SEC match of the season, losing a 6-0, 6-3 decision to Florida?s Benik. Srebovic, the third-ranked singles player in the country, clinched the match for the Gators with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Maurer.
Forty-seventh ranked Coventry fell to No. 22 Gordon at the top singles position, 6-4, 6-2, before Jessica Giuggioli had her nine-match win streak snapped with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 loss to Robison to close out the match.
“We played really well during our doubles matches,” head coach Carlos Drada said. “Florida came out really strong in singles. They (Florida) showed great mental toughness during crucial situations. We will learn a lot from this experience and will use this loss to our advantage so we can play better next weekend.”
Kentucky returns to action Saturday, April 15, when it travels to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. ET.
Florida 6, Kentucky 1 (Ring Tennis Complex ? Gainesville, Fla.)
Doubles
Kim Coventry/Carolina Escamilla, UK def. Whitney Benik/Alexis Gordon (28), UF 8-4
Lara Maurer/Joelle Schwenk, UK def. Lolita Frangulyan/Diana Srebrovic (36), UF 8-5
Danielle Petrisko/Caroline Winebrenner, UK def. Keri Robison/Nina Suvak (53), UF 8-6
Singles
Alexis Gordon (22), UF def. Kim Coventry (47), UK 6-4, 6-2
Diana Srebrovic (3), UF def. Lara Maurer, UK 6-1, 6-1
Whitney Benik, UF def. Joelle Schwenk, UK 6-0, 6-3
Nina Suvak, UF def. Danielle Petrisko, UK 6-1, 6-0
Alex Liles, UF def. Carolina Escamilla, UK 6-2, 6-0
Keri Robison, UF def. Jessica Giuggioli, UK 6-2, 1-6, 6-2
