Feb. 27, 2003

The 18th-ranked University of Kentucky women’s tennis team begins the Southeastern Conference portion of its season when it heads to Knoxville, Tenn., to take on the No. 10 Lady Vols on Friday, Feb. 28.

UK (10-4) begins conference play riding a six-match winning streak, during which the Cats knocked off two top-15 teams, Northwestern (4-3) and North Carolina (4-3). Before the streak began, Kentucky slipped all the way to No. 34 in the ITA/Omni Hotel National Rankings, but stellar doubles play from the newly paired tandem of Amy Trefethen and Sarah Witten, 6-0 since Feb. 1, and excellent singles play from Trefethen, Jill Buckley and Shannon Stough has the Cats back their winning ways and looking to continue their dominant play through the conference season.

“We started the season a little shaky,” Coach Mark Guilbeau said. “But now we’re back to playing a high level of tennis and everybody is playing for the team. If we continue the way we’re going, we should have no problem getting to where we want to be.”

Kentucky’s last meeting with UT (8-2) ended in a 5-2 defeat at UK’s Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center on March 1, 2002. Tennessee holds a 14-12 edge in the series. Friday’s match is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. ET.