Oct. 22, 2003

The University of Kentucky women’s tennis team returns to the hardcourts Thursday at the Omni Hotels/ITA Southeast Regional in Winston Salem, N.C. The tournament marks the Cats’ fourth event of the season, and if their previous three outings are any indication, Kentucky is in for big things on Tobacco Road this weekend.

Junior Aibika Kalsarieva has earned trips to the singles finals in each of Kentucky’s three events on the young season. Kalsarieva suffered a finals defeat to Petra Dizdar of Texas at the Baylor Fall Invitational but hasn’t dropped a singles match since, taking the singles championships at the Kentucky Fall Classic and the inaugural USTA National Tennis Center Women’s College Tennis Invitational.

Freshman Sarah Foster also has been a positive early surprise, teaming up with Kalsarieva to win two doubles titles. Junior Danielle Petrisko and freshmen Lara Maurer and Joelle Schwenk have had significant early success in Kentucky’s three tournaments.

The Omni Hotels/ITA Southeast Regional runs Thursday through Monday on the campus of Wake Forest University.