May 22, 2002

Palo Alto, Calif. – Senior Carolina Mayorga and junior Sarah Witten of the University of Kentucky women’s tennis team survived a second-round scare to advance to the round of eight at the 2002 NCAA Doubles Championships in Palo Alto, Calif., on Wednesday, May 22. The tandem is the tournament’s fourth seed and advance to Thursday’s quarterfinal.

Mayorga and Witten began the day with a straight-sets win over Northwestern’s Marine Piriou and Jessica Rush in the opening round. The 6-4, 6-1 win set the tone for a second round match-up with Indiana’s Linda Tran and Karie Schlukebir that would test the Wildcat duo.

The Hoosiers gained the lead and the early momentum by jumping on the Cats and cruising to a first-set win, 6-2. The second set looked to be much of the same as Tran and Schlukebir registered an early 4-1 lead. Mayorga and Witten responded, capturing a 7-5 win in the second and showing why they are two-time All-Americans. After forcing a third set, the Cats battled to a 6-4 advantage to tally the 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory.

“With all of their hard work throughout the season, these young ladies had already earned All-America, but to go out there and do it on the court was something special,” Coach Mark Guilbeau said. “When Carolina and Sarah were down in the second set, they remained in control of their emotions and persevered to win a tough match.”

The pair will now face Lauren Barnikow and Erin Burdette in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The match is slated to begin at 12:30 p.m. local time and scoring updates will be available on www.gostanford.com.