No. 24 UK Women’s Tennis Earns Bye, No. 6 Seed in SEC Championship
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 24 University of Kentucky women’s tennis team has earned a bye and a No. 6 seed in the 2019 Southeastern Conference Championship, hosted by Texas A&M at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center on April 17-21 in College Station, Texas.
Improving their seed by two spots from last season, the Wildcats are slated to compete against the winner of the 14th-seed Missouri vs. 11th-seed Arkansas on Thursday, April 18 at 11 a.m. ET in the second round of the league tournament. UK has met both opponents this season, hosting the pair in back-to-back matches in its conference home opener in March. In the process, Kentucky carded a pair of ranked wins at the start of its conference campaign.
On March 1, UK defeated then-No. 41 Arkansas on a 5-1 decision to open the conference schedule. Dropping the doubles point to the Razorbacks at the start, UK rallied five straight singles matches to clinch the dual contest. In the process, senior Justina Mikulskyte tallied a ranked win over then-No. 81 Tatum Rice, allowing Rice to only two games in the singles match.
The following Sunday, UK notched a 4-1 mark over then-No. 39 Missouri at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center. Tabbing the doubles point to draft an early lead, the Wildcats crafted three singles matches to clinch the contest, helping the program to a 2-0 start in the league.
The UK women’s tennis team – 17-7 overall and 7-6 in the SEC – earned an eighth seed in the 2018 SEC Championship. Last season, Kentucky dropped its dual match to Texas A&M, the No. 9 seed, in the second round of the tournament on a 4-3 final mark.
The 2019 SEC Championship will begin on Wednesday, April 17 and culminate in the championship match on Sunday, April 21. The championship match is the only match that will air live on the SEC Network at 4:30 p.m. ET.
For more on Kentucky women’s tennis, follow @UKWomensTennis on Twitter and Instagram, Kentucky Women’s Tennis on Facebook, or on the web at UKathletics.com.
