April 17, 2003
Knoxville, Tenn. – University of Kentucky women’s tennis team learned on Thursday it had moved up in the ITA national rankings from No. 14 to No. 10 after its 4-3 defeat of then No. 10 Vanderbilt on Saturday, Apr. 12. The top-10 ranking is the first for the Cats under Coach Mark Guilbeau. The most recent rankings were posted on Wednesday, however a mistake by the UK women’s tennis sports information director resulted in a delay in UK’s ranking being updated.
“This is a great accomplishment for this team,” Guilbeau said. “They have worked so hard to get here, especially this group of seniors. They’ve been knocking at the door for the last four years and the win over Vanderbilt kicked it in.”
Cats face Alabama in SEC second round
The newly 10th-ranked Kentucky women’s tennis team, seeded third in the SEC tournament, will take on No. 20 Alabama in the second round of the Southeastern Conference women’s tennis tournament on Friday, Apr. 18. The match is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. ET and will be played at UT’s Goodfriend Tennis Center. The Tide, seeded sixth in the tournament, advanced to the second round by defeating 11th-seeded Mississippi State.
UK last faced the Crimson Tide on Sunday, Apr. 6 and defeated them by a score of 4-3. The Cats swept the doubles competition in the last meeting and sealed the victory with wins at the NO. 1, No. 2 and No. 6 singles positions. Alabama is led by Sophie Cremers and Millie Begovic. In the last meeting Cremers played No. 1 singles, losing to Sarah Witten and Begovic played in the No. 2 position, where she was defeated by Nathalie Roels. In Friday’s meeting Begovic will play No. 1 singles and Cremers will play No. 2. The Cats will counter with Witten, ranked 48th nationally in singles, again at No. 1 and Roels at No. 2.
“We know we’re going to have our hands full,” Guilbeau said. “Alabama is a very dangerous team, but we are really confident in our players’ level of determination and focus heading into this match. They know what they have to do and I feel confident they will take care of business.”
