Kentucky freshman Joelle Schwenk recovered from a daunting deficit at No. 3 singles to win in three sets, propelling the 12th-ranked Cats to a 4-3 victory over No. 46 Purdue Saturday at the Lafayette Sports Center. The Cats capture their first road victory of the season and improve to 8-4.

Purdue took a 1-0 lead by way of a dominant doubles performance. The Boilermakers surrendered only six games in three doubles matches to handily earn the doubles point. However, Kentucky rebounded in quick fashion. Freshman Lara Maurer hung a 6-2, 6-0 loss on Purdue?s Alyssa Rodriguez to even the tally at one. Freshman Kim Coventry earned her first victory as a Wildcat with a 6-3, 6-1 decision over Lara Burgarello to put the Cats on top, 2-1. Junior Aibika Kalsarieva scored the third-consecutive Kentucky singles victory with a 6-0, 7-5 win at No. 1 over Gretchen Haynor. After Purdue evened the score at three with a couple of singles victories, Kentucky?s fate became dependent upon the freshman Schwenk.

Schwenk dropped her first set and fell behind 3-0 in the second set before mounting a tremendous comeback. The Coconut Creek, Fla., native took 12 of the final 13 games in the match, punctuating her win with a 6-0 third-set showing to preserve the Kentucky victory.

?For a team to get shut-out in doubles and come back the way they did in singles play was impressive,? UK Coach Mark Guilbeau said. ?These ladies displayed a great deal of character and toughness to get this win today.?

The Cats complete their Hoosier State weekend excursion Sunday when Kentucky meets 36th-ranked Indiana Sunday at 10 a.m. ET in Bloomington.

No. 12 Kentucky 4, No. 46 Purdue 3

Doubles

1. Haynor/Woods (PU) def. Foster/Kalsarieva (UK) ? 8-3 2. Burgarello/Rodriguez (PU) def. Schwenk/Coventry (UK) ? 8-2 3. Walgenbach/Sufi (PU) def. Maurer/Sober (UK) ? 8-1 Singles 1. No. 23 Aibika Kalsarieva (UK) def. Gretchen Haynor (PU) – 6-0, 7-5 2. Amy Walgenbach (PU) def. Sarah Foster (UK) – 6-1, 7-5 3. Joelle Schwenk (UK) def. Hala Sufi (PU) – 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 4. Lara Maurer (UK) def. Alyssa Rodriguez (PU) – 6-2, 6-0 5. Melissa Woods (PU) def. Liis Sober (UK) – 6-2, 7-5 6. Kim Coventry (UK) def. Lara Burgarello (PU) – 6-3, 6-1