LEXINGTON, Ky. ? One Kentucky doubles pair retained its top-10 status while another made a top-15 debut in the women?s doubles tennis rankings released Tuesday by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).
Senior Aibika Kalsarieva (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan) and sophomore Sarah Foster (Lexington, Ky.) will begin the dual-match season later this month with a No. 6 doubles ranking after entering the fall with a No. 3 ranking. The tandem turned in a 9-3 fall tally and claimed the Kentucky Fall Classic and ITA Southeast Regional Championships last October.
Sophomores Kim Coventry (Melbourne, Australia) and Joelle Schwenk (Coconut Creek, Fla.) made quite a splash in the doubles rankings, making their respective debuts at No. 11, nationally. The pair recorded a 13-2 record over the fall highlighted by titles at the Kentucky and SEC Fall Classics and a victory over North Carolina?s fourth-ranked tandem of Kendall Cline and Aniela Mojzis at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships. Only their higher-ranked teammates, Foster and Kalsarieva, stood in their way of the event title, as Coventry and Schwenk fell by a 9-7 count in the final. Kentucky is the only school in the nation with two doubles pairs featured in the top 11 of the ITA doubles rankings.
Kalsarieva leads a trio of Wildcats featured in the women?s singles rankings. The All-American picked up a career-best No. 7 singles ranking after winning the ITA Southeast Regional Championships and turning in a 13-3 fall record. The All-American became the first Wildcat to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Championships a season ago. Kalsarieva moves up two spots from her No. 9 singles ranking issued by the ITA last September.
Foster, the reigning SEC Freshman of the Year, moved up a couple of spots to No. 30 after earning a No. 32 preseason ranking. The former KHSAA champion out of Lexington Christian Academy enjoys a career-best ranking after tallying an 8-7 fall record. Kentucky joins Northwestern, Southern California, UCLA, Florida, Stanford and TCU as the only schools in the nation with two student-athletes among the nation?s top-30 singles players.
Coventry makes her debut in the ITA rankings after a breakout fall season. The Australian comes in at No. 58 nationally after winning the Kentucky Fall Classic and the USTA Women?s College Tennis Invitational last October. Coventry registered an impressive 15-4 fall record.
Kentucky earned a No. 14 team ranking by way of its solid team play throughout the fall. The Cats claimed a No. 16 final team ranking last spring after earning a berth in the NCAA round of 16, where Kentucky fell to eventual national champion Stanford.
The Cats begin their quest for a national title on Jan. 25 when Kentucky plays host to Marshall and Louisville.
