May 16, 2002
Palo Alto, Calif. – The 17th-ranked University of Kentucky women’s tennis team fell short of its bid to upset defending national champion Stanford on Thursday, May 16 at the Taube Tennis Complex in Palo Alto, Calif. The loss eliminated the Wildcats from the 2002 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships, but their performance remains to be the best team finish for the program in its 28-year history.
The Cats came out hot in doubles action with eighth-ranked Carolina Mayorga and Sarah Witten starting things off for UK by posting a remarkable 8-3 win over the nation’s top doubles team of Lauren Kalvaria and Gabriela Lastra. The Wildcat tandem handed the country’s top team just its second loss of the dual match season. Juniors Amy Trefethen and Jill Buckley then followed, picking up an emotionally charged 8-4 win on court three over Stanford’s Keiko Tokuda and Story Tweedie-Yates to claim the match’s opening point for the Cats.
With a 1-0 lead, UK headed into singles competition against an impressive Stanford lineup that boasted a top 20 ranking for each of its top four players. No. 13 Erin Burdette evened things up with a win over Trefethen on court four. Stanford then added wins on courts one, two and six to clinch the match and move into the next round.
“Stanford deserves a lot of credit for being a great, great team,” Coach Mark Guilbeau said. “More important than winning and losing, today we approached this match knowing we could complete with one of the best teams in the nation and we did. This team has accomplished so much for the University of Kentucky and solidified our program’s spot among the nation’s elite.”
Although the season is over for UK as a team, Mayorga and Witten received bids to compete in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships. Individual Championship action will begin Monday, May 20 and run through May 25.
AgateSU 4 UK 1Singles1. #4 Lauren Kalvaria (SU) def. #44 Carolina Mayorga (UK), 6-1, 6-22. #6 Gabriela Lastra (SU) def. #60 Sarah Witten (UK), 6-1, 6-13. #86 Lauren Rookledge (UK) vs. #16 Lauren Barnikow (SU), DNF4. #13 Erin Burdette (SU) def. Amy Trefethen (UK), 6-1, 6-15. Jill Buckley (UK) vs. Keiko Tokuda (SU), DNF6. Emilia Anderson (SU) def. Leigh B radwell (UK), 6-1, 6-2
Doubles1. #8 Witten/Mayorga (UK) def. #1 Kalvaria/Lastra (SU), 8-32. # 14 Barnikow/Burdette (SU) def. Bradwell/Rookledge (UK), 8-03. #60 Trefethen/Jill Buckley (UK) def. Tokuda/Tweedie-Yates (SU), 8-4
