April 7, 2002
Lexington, Ky. – The 15th-ranked University of Kentucky women’s tennis team fell to the Auburn Tigers on Sunday, April 7, at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center on the UK campus. The tough Tiger squad narrowly upset the Cats by a score of 4-3. It was a homecoming for Auburn assistant coach Kelly Brown who was an All-Southeastern Conference performer as a Tennis Cat standout in 1998.
The Cats fell behind early after losing the doubles point. Auburn took two of the three doubles matches to register the opening point and take the early lead. Junior Sarah Witten evened the score with her 6-1, 6-3 win on center court before senior Shannon Stafford gave the Cats a 2-1 lead with her straight sets win over Sarah Suitor on court six. Auburn found wins on courts three and four to regain the lead, but a Leigh Bradwell victory tied the score at three with one match left incomplete.
With the score knotted at three, the match came down to the court-two grudge match between Auburn’s Petra Bercik and UK’s Carolina Mayorga. After winning the opening set, Bercik bounced back from a second-set loss to take the third set and clinch the upset win for the Tigers.
“You have to give Auburn a lot of credit for this win,” Coach Mark Guilbeau said. “Troy (Porco) and Kelly (Brown) are great coaches and had this Auburn team ready to play today. Their program has faced a lot of adversity and, through it all, they are becoming a force in the SEC.”
The Wildcats will be back in action on Wednesday, April 10, when they battle the Ohio State Buckeyes. The border rivals will hook up at 2 p.m. at the Boone Tennis Complex on the UK campus. Admission is free.
AgateAU 4, UK 3Singles1. #44 Sarah Witten (UK) def. Katia Illarionova (AU), 6-1, 6-32. Petra Bercik (AU) def. #37 Carolina Mayorga (UK),6-4, 2-6, 6-33. #116 Carolina Ramirez (AU) def. #108 Lauren Rookledge (UK), 6-2, 6-24. Carolina Maurer (AU) def. Jill Buckley (UK), 6-3, 6-35. Leigh Bradwell (UK) def. Liz Sauerborn (UA), 7-6, 6-26. Shannon Stafford (UK) def. Sarah Suitor (AU), 6-3, 6-2Doubles1. #7 Witten/Mayorga (UK) def. #28 Maurer/Illarionova (AU), 9-82. Bercik/Ramirez (AU) def. #50 Bradwell/Rookledge (UK), 8-53. Sauerborn/Suitor (AU) def. Stafford/Buckley (UK), 8-1
