Kentucky newcomers Sarah Foster, Aibika Kalsarieva and Lara Maurer rebounded from opening?round losses to post singles victories, but 13th-ranked Harvard was too much for the 14th-ranked Cats, dealing Kentucky a 4-3 loss Friday at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Madison, Wis.
UK freshmen Kim Coventry and Joelle Schwenk teamed up for an 8-5 win at No. 3 doubles, but Harvard took the remaining two doubles matches for a 1-0 lead. Later in singles play, the Cats jumped form a 1-0 deficit to a 2-1 lead in a span of 15 seconds.
At No. 2 singles, Foster found herself in a tiebreaker with Alexis Martire. After sustaining a 6-3 deficit, Foster ran off five consecutive points to claim the set. Foster posted a 6-4 second set to even the score at one. As the No. 2 match ended, UK?s Maurer and Harvard?s Melissa Andersen engaged in a series of volleys at match point. Anderson swatted a shot out of bounds at and Maurer completed the come-from-behind three-set triumph. Harvard?s Cincy Chu rebounded from a first-set loss and 4-1 second-set deficit against Coventry by taking the final five games to push the match to a decisive third set. Chu held on for a 6-4 win to put the Crimson back on top, 3-2.
Kalsarieva survived a first-set tiebreaker at No. 1 and turned in a strong 6-1 second set to once again tie the score. Preethi Mukundan went on to claim the Crimson victory with a two-set win at No. 5 over Christine Simpson.
The Cats fall to 6-3 and meet Southern California Saturday at 9 a.m. CST.
No. 12 Harvard 4, No. 13 Kentucky 3
Doubles 1. (49) Bergman/Lingman (HU) def. Foster/Kalsarieva (UK) ? 8-4 2. Martire/Wang (HU) def. Maurer/Simpson (UK) ? 8-4 3. Coventry/Schwenk (UK) def. Anderson/Hyotte (HU) ? 8-5
Singles 1. No. 23 Aibika Kalsarieva (UK) def. Susanna Lingman (HU) 7-6 (1), 6-1 2. Sarah Foster (UK) def. Alexis Martire (HU) ? 7-6 (6), 6-4 3. Eva Wang (HU) def. Joelle Schwenk (UK) ? 6-4, 6-3 4. Lara Maurer (UK) def. Melissa Andersen (HU) ? 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 5. Preethi Mukundan (HU) def. Christine Simpson (UK) ? 6-2, 6-3 6. Cindy Chu (HU) def. Kim Coventry (UK) ? 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
