NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? A roster full of Wildcats making their respective post-season debuts took a liking to the SEC Women?s Tennis Tournament, as sixth-seeded Kentucky eliminated 11th-seeded Mississippi State with a 4-0 shutout Thursday afternoon at Vanderbilt?s Brownlee O. Currey Tennis Center. The Cats advance to Friday?s quarterfinal round against No. 3 Georgia.
Kentucky got things going early with solid doubles play. At No. 1, UK?s Sarah Foster and Aibika Kalsarieva broke a 1-1 tie by taking six-consecutive games for a 7-1 lead. The 13th-ranked duo went on to claim an 8-2 victory over Anastasia Kugakolova and Magda Rekasi. At No.3, UK freshmen Joelle Schwenk and Christine Simpson won five of their last seven games over Marcelle Hirt and Justyna Switala, earning an 8-5 victory to clinch the Kentucky doubles point.
Kalsarieva carried her strong doubles play into her No. 1 singles match against MSU?s Hirt. Kalsarieva dispatched Hirt in less than an hour, turning in a 6-1, 6-0 victory for the Cats? second point. Schwenk claimed the first set at No. 3 against MSU?s Tarryn Rudman. After falling behind in the second set, Schwenk took the last four games to score a straight-set victory and give Kentucky a 3-0 lead.
UK?s Simpson claimed the final five games of set one for a one-set lead over MSU?s Yumi Ueda. The freshman fought off nagging injuries throughout the second set to post a 6-2 second-set win and clinch the SEC opening-round win for the Wildcats.
?I would like to give Mississippi State a lot of credit. They fought hard and both teams showed a much higher level of play today. That shows development and good work habits for both teams,? UK Coach Mark Guilbeau said.
?It was great to see our team?s attention to detail. We had purpose, and we had a plan to execute very specific skills.?
Kentuck,y meets Georgia Friday at 11:30 a.m. CDT in the quarterfinal round. The Dogs dealt the Cats a 6-1 defeat two weeks ago in Lexington. Live scoring will be available at www.vucommodores.com.
No. 21 Kentucky 4, Mississippi State 0
Doubles 1. Foster/Kalsarieva (UK) def. Kugakolova/Rekasi (MSU) ? 8-2 2. Coventry/Maurer (UK) vs. H. Rudman/T. Rudman (MSU) ? DNF 3. Schwenk/Simpson (UK) def. Hirt/Switala (MSU) ? 8-5
Singles 1. No. 19 Aibika Kalsarieva (UK) def. Marcelle Hirt (MSU) ? 6-1, 6-0 2. No. 64 Sarah Foster (UK) vs. Anastasia Kugakolova (MSU) ? DNF 3. Joelle Schwenk (UK) def. Tarryn Rudman (MSU) ? 6-3, 6-3 4. Lara Maurer (UK) vs. Magda Rekasi (MSU) ? DNF 5. Kim Coventry (UK) vs. Justyna Switala (MSU) ? DNF 6. Christine Simpson (UK) def. Yumi Ueda (MSU) ? 6-1, 6-2
