April 18, 2003
Knoxville, Tenn. – The 10th-ranked University of Kentucky women’s tennis team continued its winning ways on Friday, Apr. 18 when they defeated N0. 20 Alabama, 4-2, in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Women’s Tennis Tournament at Tennessee’s Goodfriend Tennis Center. With the victory, the Cats advance to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament for the first time under seven-year head coach Mark Guilbeau.
“It is very rewarding for this team to reach the semifinals,” Guilbeau said. “We were close a few years ago but to finally get there means a lot. We have to give a lot of credit to Alabama though, we have a tremendous amount of respect for them and they played a great match.”
The third-seeded Cats, who improved to 21-6 on the year, started the match off by winning the doubles point to go ahead 1-0. However, the doubles competition was a little tougher than what UK has faced in recent matches. On court one, 11th-ranked Sarah Witten and Amy Trefethen jumped out to an early 5-1 lead over Bama’s Millie Begovic and Robin Stephenson, but the Crimson Tide duo settled down and got right back into the match and closed the gap to 5-3. The Cats then regained their composure and went on to win the match, 8-5. While the No. 1 match was being played, UK’s No. 3 doubles team of Nathalie Roels and Shannon Stafford found themselves in a tough battle with the Tide’s Nathalie Koppelle and Natalie McElveen and eventually found themselves trailing in the match by a 4-2 count. Roels and Stafford hung tough and battled back to go on and win the match, 8-6, and clinch the pivotal doubles point for UK. The No. 2 doubles match was suspended with UK’s Jill Buckley and Leigh Bradwell leading Sophie Cremers and Ashley Bentley, 7-6.
In singles, the momentum seemed to swing in Alabama’s favor. At No. 4 singles, UK’s Shannon Stafford was defeated in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1, by Bama’s Marie-France Lord-Andrade, tying the score at 1-1. On court two Roels was able to discard Cremers, 6-3, 6-4, to put the Cats back on top, 2-1 in the match. At the No. 3 spot, Buckley put up a tough fight in the first set, but would fall 6-4 and then 6-2 in the second to Stephenson and the Tide would pull even once again, 2-2.
Meanwhile at No. 1 singles, Witten found herself in a tough fight with Begovic, who quickly went up 1-0 in the first set. The two women fought hard and stayed on serve until Witten was finally able to gain an edge on Begovic and broke her serve to take a 5-4 lead. Witten would go on to take the first set 6-4. In the second set it looked as if Bama would prevail as Begovic pushed Witten to the limit. Both women would lose and regain the service advantage before Bama finally prevailed with Begovic taking a 6-4 win in the second set. The third set began with a game that would see eight deuce points played. Witten battled as hard as she could but could never seem to gain an edge on the Bama junior, losing the first game and falling behind, 1-0, in the final and deciding set. The tough first-game battle would figure to be in Witten’s favor, however, as she would then just go on to overpower the tiring Begovic and win the next six games to win the two-hour match, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, and put the Cats back up 3-2.
“It was so important for Sarah to maintain her focus in this match,” Guilbeau said. “She was able to maintain control and closed out the third set playing the same dominating tennis she has played throughout her careert.”
Then at No. 5 singles, Trefethen avenged an earlier loss to Ashley Bentley in dominating fashion, 6-1, 6-1, to clinch the victory for UK and send the team into the semifinals. Freshman Shannon Stough’s No. 6 singles match was suspended after Trefethen’s victory.
“This was an awesome win,” Trefethen said. “Especially since I had loss to her the last time we played. It makes even more sweet because it put us in the semifinals.
“We have a great opportunity to get to the finals as well. Our team is playing great right now and there’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to advance.”
The Cats will face the second-seeded Georgia Bulldogs, who are ranked No. 7 in the country, on Saturday at 10 a.m. ET. The ‘Dawgs advanced to the semis with a 4-0 victory over seventh-seeded South Carolina. Georgia and Kentucky last met on March 2, a 6-1 Bulldog victory.
Agate:
Doubles
1. #11 Sarah Witten/Amy Trefethen (UK) def. Millie Begovic/Robin Stephens (UA) 8-5
2. Jill Buckley/Leigh Bradwell (UK) vs. Sophie Cremers/Ashley Bentley (UA) UK up 7-6 suspended
3. Shannon Stafford/Nathalie Roels (UK) def. Nathalie Koppelle/Natalie McElveen (UA) 8-6
order of finish: 1, 3*
*clinched point
Singles
1. #48 Sarah Witten (UK) def. Millie Begovic (UA) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
2. #75 Nathalie Roels (UK) def. Sophie Cremers (UA) 6-3, 6-4
3. Robin Stephenson (UA) def. Jill Buckley (UK) 6-4, 6-2
4. Marie-France Lord-Andrade (UA) def. Shannon Stafford (UK) 6-1, 6-1
5. Amy Trefethen (UK) def. Ashley Bentley (UA) 6-1, 6-1
6. Shannon Stough (UK) vs. Nathalie Koppelle (UA) suspended
order of finish: 2, 4, 3, 1, 5*
*Clinched victory
