March 22, 2000

NEW ORLEANS – The 30th-ranked UK women’s tennis team earned a hard-fought5-4 victory over 35th-ranked Tulane on Wednesday.The Cats and the Green Wave were knotted at three matches a piece aftersingles competition. UK then went on to win two of three doubles matches totake the victory.

With the score tied at four, the dual match came down to the No. 3 doublescourt where UK’s Lauren Rookledge and Jill Buckley took on Tulane’s MaikoCook and Anneli Axsater. Tulane took an early 7-4 lead on Rookledge andBuckley, but the young duo fought back to take the match at 9-8 in atiebreaker and essentially clinched the win for the Cats.

“It was just a tremendous team effort,” coach Mark Guilbeau said. “Wereally showed a lot of poise, especially the way that No. 3 doubles foughtback.”

Kentucky got singles wins from junior Brooke Skeen, the 87th-ranked playerin the country, and freshmen Sarah Witten and Amy Trefethen. Witten wouldlater team up with sophomore Carolina Mayorga to form the nation’s34th-ranked doubles pair and grab another win for the Cats on the No. 1doubles court.

After a grueling four-match road trip, the Wildcats will take a week off.They will be back in action on Wednesday, March 29, when they travel toBloomington to take on the Indiana Hoosiers. The match is scheduled tobegin at 3 p.m.

UK 5, UA 4

Singles

1. Anna Monhartova, TU def. Carolina Mayorga, UK 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
2. Brooke Skeen(#87), UK def. Maiko Cook, TU 6-4, 6-2
3. Sarah Witten, UK def. Julie Cook, TU 7-6, 6-4
4. Jessica Kessler, TU def. Lauren Rookledge, UK 7-6, 1-6, 6-1
5. Anneli Axsater, TU def. Jill Buckley, UK 6-2, 6-3
6. Amy Trefethen, UK def. Olga Mikhailova, TU 7-6, 4-6, 6-1

Doubles

1. Mayorga/Witten (#34), UK def. Morris/Mikhailova, TU 8-3
2. Monhartova/Kessler, TU def. Skeen/Bradwell (#46), UK 8-4
3. Rookledge/Buckley, UK def. Cook/Axsater, TU 9-8