No. 29 Kentucky Women’s Tennis Concludes Season in NCAA Second Round

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The No. 29 University of Kentucky women’s tennis team ended its season on Saturday, falling at No. 16 Michigan in the NCAA Second Round, 4-0. The Wildcats conclude the 2018-19 year on a 19-9 (.679) mark, the program’s best season since forming a 19-8 (.704) record in 2007.
 
The doubles competition was action packed, providing no shortage of angst. While the Wildcats dropped the doubles point in the end, the team battled in two tight-race sets to close out the doubles division.
 
Dropping its doubles match first, Diana Tkachenko and Brianna Tulloch foiled in a 6-3 decision on the third court. It was courts Nos. 1 and 2 that provided no shortage of energy, battling it out for the doubles point.
 
For a while, it looked as though UK’s early momentum would push them pass the finish line, but Michigan’s home-court advantage took the reins. Losing their lead, the 16th-ranked doubles team in the nation in Justina Mikulskyte and Akvile Paražinskaite dropped on the first court to No. 37 Kate Fahey and Brienne Minor, 7-5. It was the first doubles match that Mikulskyte and Paražinskaite have lost to ranked opponents all season, boasting a 13-6 overall mark and an 8-1 mark against ranked foes.
 
Meanwhile, the UK pair in Lesedi Jacobs and Anastasia Tkachenko rallied from behind to force Michigan’s Giulia Pairone and Anca Craciun to a 6-6 mark. The Wildcat duo led in the tiebreak, four games to two, before it retired.
 
With Michigan clinching the doubles point in style, momentum boosted them in the singles division, while UK hustled to hop on. Of the six singles courts, it was only junior Diana Tkachenko who won the first set in the singles division. Tkachenko, who owns the best record in singles on the team at 17-4 (.810), led No. 48 Chiara Lommer on the fourth court, 7-5, 0-1, before it retired.
 
In the race to clinch the dual match, senior Justina Mikulskyte lost her match on the first court to the third-best player in the nation in Fahey, 6-2, 6-2. It was followed by redshirt junior Paražinskaite who dropped on the third court to No. 50 Minor, 6-0, 7-5. It was the second court that hoisted Michigan to success, as Wolverine No. 80 Pairone knocked off Jacobs in a 6-4, 6-0 match.
 
While the season ended for the team, two Wildcats earned a post in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championship May 20-25. Mikulskyte, currently ranked No. 27 in the ITA/Oracle Top 125 National Singles Rankings, earned a bid in the singles draw. Paired with Paražinskaite, the upperclassmen duo earned entrance into the doubles draw.  
 
Mikulskyte was one of 64 singles player selected and the UK doubles team was one of 32 twosomes selected to the championships. The singles and doubles competition will be conducted at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida, at the conclusion of the team championships, which runs from May 16-21. The University of Central Florida and the Greater Orlando Sports Commission will host the event.
 
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.