ATHENS, Ga. ? Kentucky senior All-American Aibika Kalsarieva will make her second-consecutive round-of-16 appearance at the NCAA Singles Championships after eliminating Alabama?s Ashley Bentley from the round of 32 Tuesday at Georgia?s Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
Kalsarieva and Alabama?s 57th-ranked Bentley each held serve through their first five games before Kalsarieva broke Bentley in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead. Kalsarieva served out the rest of the way to take the first set, 6-3.
Kalsarieva broke Bentley?s serve twice and held for a 3-0 lead to open the second set before Bentley bounced back. Bentley held serve and broke Kalsarieva in consecutive games to even the set at three games apiece. However, Kalsarieva broke Bentley once again for a 4-3 lead and never looked back, taking the set, 6-3, to move on to Wednesday?s round of 16, where she?ll face Vanderbilt?s 17th-ranked Audra Falk at 11:30 a.m. EDT. Kalsarieva defeated Falk last month in Lexington, though Falk defeated Kalsarieva twice during the 2004 season.
UK?s Sarah Foster faced a stiff challenge in the form of Southern California?s 16th-ranked Lindsey Nelson, who held serve and broke Foster to open the first set with a 2-0 lead. After exchanging service breaks with Nelson, Foster broke once more and held for the first time to even the set at three. However, Nelson regained serve and broke Foster in the set?s final game to win the set, 6-4.
Nelson, behind several backhand winners, took a 3-0 lead to open the second set before Foster held serve to cut the lead to 3-1. Nelson maintained control the rest of the way, winning the set, 6-1, to advance to Wednesday?s round of 16.
Kentucky?s Kim Coventry and Joelle Schwenk opened the NCAA doubles competition with a 6-3, 6-3 loss to Miami?s third-seeded tandem of Megan Bradley and Audrey Banada. Kentucky closed within 5-3 in the first set after trailing 5-1, but the Hurricanes secured the final game to take the first set. The second set progressed in similar fashion, as Miami took a 4-1 lead. Once again, UK drew within 5-3, but Miami closed out the set to take the match.
Later in the afternoon, UK?s Foster and Kalsarieva suffered a 6-2, 6-1 defeat to Arizona?s Maja Mlakar and Dianne Hollands. Kentucky broke Arizona?s serve to open the match, but Arizona rebounded to take a 4-1 lead on its way to a 6-2 first-set win. Foster served out the second game of the following set to even the set at one, but Arizona ran the table to win the match, 6-1 and advance to the round of 16.
Should Kalsarieva score a win over Vanderbilt?s Falk on Wednesday, she would become the first Wildcat to make two quarterfinal appearances at the NCAA Singles Championships. Kentucky now has had a player make the NCAA round of 16 in three-consecutive seasons. Live scoring for each NCAA singles and doubles match is available at georgiadogs.com.
NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships ? Athens, Ga.
Singles ? Round of 32
(4) Aibika Kalsarieva (UK) def. No. 57 Ashley Bentley (Alabama) ? 6-3, 6-3
(9-16 seed) Lindsey Nelson (USC) def. No. 64 Sarah Foster (UK) ? 6-4, 6-1
Doubles ? Round of 32
(3) Banada/Bradley (Miami, Fla.) def. No. 22 Coventry/Schwenk (UK) ? 6-3, 6-3
No. 15 Hollands/Mlakar (Arizona) def. (5-8 seed) S. Foster/Kalsarieva (UK) ? 6-2, 6-1
Wednesday ? Singles Round of 16
(4) Aibika Kalsarieva (UK) vs. No. 17 Audra Falk (Vanderbilt) ? 11:30 a.m.
