West Lafayette, Ind. ? Junior Kim Coventry soundly beat her fourth-straight ranked opponent Sunday, but it wasn?t enough as No. 19 Kentucky fell to 40th-ranked Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind. The loss dropped the Wildcats to 6-4 on the season.
The Boilermakers (4-2) jumped out on top of the Cats early by sweeping the doubles matches and never let up. Playing in the No. 1 spot in the lineup, the No. 18 duo of Coventry and junior Joelle Schwenk were outlasted 8-6 by Purdue?s Hala Sufi and Mallory Voelker. Purdue followed that victory by winning two more tightly contested matches at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots by the scores of 8-6 and 9-7 respectively.
In singles action, Kentucky dropped four of six matches. The 53rd-ranked Coventry once again stood out with her dominating 6-3, 6-1 victory over Purdue?s No. 29 Sufi. The Melbourne, Australia, native has beaten Northwestern?s No. 12 Alexis Prousis, Georgia Tech?s No. 7 Kristi Miller, Rice?s 31st-ranked Blair DiSesa and Sufi consecutively to raise her record to 19-11 on the season.
“We played a really hungry opponent who was able to implement strategies and play with a lot of intensity,? head coach Carlos Drada said. ?This match serves as a great reminder about the amount of intensity and focus necessary every time one steps onto a tennis court. I want to congratulate Purdue on a great job.”
The Cats will continue their run of playing some of the top collegiate teams in the country when they return to the courts on Thursday in Coral Gables, Fla. to face 13th-ranked Miami. The match is scheduled to begin at noon EST and fans check ukathletics.com for a complete recap.
#40 Purdue 5, #19 Kentucky 2
Singles competition:
1. #53 Kim Coventry (UK) def. #29 Hala Sufi (PUR) 6-3, 6-1
2. #54 Randi Schuler (PUR) def. Joelle Schwenk (UK) 6-2, 6-4
3. Brooke Beier (PUR) def. Lara Maurer (UK) 6-3, 6-2
4. Mallory Voelker (PUR) def. Carolina Escamilla (UK) 7-5, 6-2
5. Jessica Giuggioli (UK) def. Stephanie Wooten (PUR) 2-6, 6-2, 2-2 ret.
6. Anna Dzeva (PUR) def. Danielle Petrisko (UK) 0-6, 7-6, 1-0 (11-9)
Doubles competition:
1. Hala Sufi/Mallory Voelker (PUR) def. #18 Kim Coventry/Joelle Schwenk (UK) 8-6
2. Brooke Beier/Randi Schuler (PUR) def. Lara Maurer/Carolina Escamilla (UK) 8-6
3. Brittany Minna/Stephanie Wooten (PUR) def. Jessica Giuggioli/Caroline Winebrenner (UK) 9-7
