The 17th-ranked and 15th-seeded Kentucky women?s tennis team (17-11) opens NCAA competition Friday afternoon when the Cats meet America East Champion Boston (15-7) on the campus of Harvard. The match is set for 2 p.m. EDT at the Beren Tennis Center in Cambridge, Mass. Live scoring updates will be available at .
Kentucky will be making its 15th appearance in the 64-team NCAA Tournament and seventh overall under Coach Mark Guilbeau, now in his eighth season with the Wildcats. UK has earned trips to the NCAA Sweet 16 in each of the past two seasons. Kentucky holds an 8-14 record in NCAA-tournament play.
Kentucky has claimed its only two meetings against Boston, including a 4-0 shutout of the Terriers at the 2002 NCAA Regional in Lexington. Boston has won five of its last six matches and earned an automatic bid to the field of 64 with a 4-1 defeat of Maryland-Baltimore County.
?We know Boston fairly well after playing them two seasons ago,? Guilbeau said. ?They made the tournament by winning their conference, and that?s always a great accomplishment. Boston is a well-coached team. They make a habit of playing smart tennis, so I expect this to be a difficult match tomorrow.?
Kentucky, featuring one junior and seven true freshmen on its active roster, is perhaps the most youthful team in the NCAA field. However, the season results indicate a mature Wildcat squad. Kentucky finished in a tie for fourth in the Southeastern Conference, who is sending a nation-leading eight teams to the NCAA Tournament. The Cats scored regular-season victories over No. 6 Southern California and No. 13 Texas A&M before eliminating No. 5 Georgia from the SEC Tournament last month at Vanderbilt.
UK junior Aibika Kalsarieva, a transfer from Lewis & Clark of the NAIA, tallied a 36-12 overall singles record and enters NCAA competition with the No. 16 slot in the ITA singles rankings. Freshman Sarah Foster scored a 29-13 overall singles tally and holds a No. 48 ITA singles ranking. Kalsarieva and Foster each have qualified for NCAA singles and doubles competition.
Should Kentucky win Friday, the Cats will play Saturday against the winner of Friday?s Ohio State-Harvard match.
