No. 23 Kentucky Kicks Off Championship Season in Ann Arbor
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky women’s tennis team, which is currently ranked No. 23 in the nation, will make the trip north to Ann Arbor, Mich. for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The Wildcats are guaranteed two matches, and will first face No. 32 Dartmouth on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 2 p.m.
Following their match with the Big Green, the Wildcats will play on Sunday in either the Consolation Match at 10 a.m. or the Championship Match at 2 p.m. Also playing at the site will be host school No. 14 Michigan, who will take on San Francisco at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The winner of the championship match will advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship at the University of Wisconsin on Feb. 5-8, joining the 14 other schools that win both matches during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.
Kentucky enters the weekend boasting the No. 1 doubles pair in the nation of Mami Adachi and Aldila Sutjiadi. The duo compiled a 12-2 record during the fall, with the only losses coming in a pair of championship matches at the Oracle/ITA Masters and the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships. The two are also ranked in singles action, with Sutjiadi holding down the No. 97 spot while Adachi has the No. 100 ranking.
Dartmouth does not have any ranked singles players coming into Saturday’s match, but does have a doubles pair that ended its fall season at the hands of North Carolina’s Haley Carter and Whitney Kay, the same team that knocked out Adachi and Sutjiadi at the ITA Indoor Championships. Taylor Ng and Kristina Mathis are currently ranked No. 34 in the nation, having posted a 10-3 record during the fall.
Michigan has already opened up its spring season after hosting the Michigan Invitational on Jan. 16-18. The Wolverines had a solid showing against No. 24 Georgia Tech, No. 62 Tennessee and North Florida. Michigan currently has three ranked singles players as well as a ranked doubles team coming into the weekend. Leading the charge for the Wolverines is Ronit Yurovsky, who advanced to the quarterfinals of both the ITA Indoor Championships and the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships and compiled a 5-5 record with upsets over No. 6 Carter of UNC and No. 10 Klara Fabikova of California. Also ranked in the top-20 for Michigan is Brienne Minor at No. 19. Minor holds a fall record of 13-3 and appeared in the championship match of the ITA Indoor Championships, falling to Fabikova. The third ranked Wolverine is No. 107 Kate Fahey, who posted an 8-4 record with one win over a ranked opponent. Fahey and Minor team up as the No. 59 doubles team in the nation, but only played one match together during the fall season, a win over Texas’ No. 28 Breaunna Addison and Danielle Wagland.
San Francisco has one ranked player, No. 101 Andrea Ka. During the fall, Ka posted a 6-2 record, winning the Battle in the Bay Classic against No. 102 Laura Gulbe of Pepperdine and advancing to the quarterfinals of the ITA Northwest Regional Championship before falling to Stanford’s No. 39 Caroline Doyle.
Live scoring and video for the weekend can be found here.
Visit UKathletics.com for the most up-to-date information on the Kentucky women’s tennis team and all 22 varsity sports. For additional info, notes, and behind-the-scenes updates, follow the team on Twitter at @UKWomensTennis and on Facebook.
