WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. ? Kentucky made a clean sweep of the ITA Southeast Regional Championships Monday at Wake Forest?s Leighton Tennis Courts with a pair of victories in the singles and doubles finals.
UK senior All-American Aibika Kalsarieva and sophomore Sarah Foster rallied from a 7-5 deficit to Wildcat sophomores Kim Coventry and Joelle Schwenk to capture the doubles title in the 32-team field by a 9-7 count. Coventry and Schwenk, the tournament?s eighth-seeded duo, capped a strong run through the tournament by nearly upsetting their top-seeded teammates after eliminating North Carolina?s second-seeded pair of Kendall Cline and Aniela Mojzis in Sunday?s quarterfinals.
?Both teams deserved to win this match,? UK Coach Mark Guilbeau said. ?The level of play displayed by both doubles teams was their highest of the entire tournament. It?s a terrific day for our team when you account for the play both teams showed throughout the tournament.?
Guilbeau was particularly impressed by the finish turned in by his unranked sophomore pair.
?The strategy utilized in their doubles matches was so good and so solid,? Guilbeau said. ?Our team can learn from their aggressive play.?
Kalsarieva faced the same opponent, Karin Coetzee of Wake Forest, she fell to in the 2003 ITA Southeast Regional singles final in Monday?s championship match. The top-seeded Kalsarieva surrendered the first set, 6-4, but rebounded with authority in the final two sets, winning by 6-3 and 6-1 margins to avenge her defeat from a year ago.
?Aibika kept her composure, persisted and never gave in after the first set,? Guilbeau said. ?She never showed any weakness, emotionally. She won the match when she came back from a 3-0 deficit in the first set and forced Coetzee to play out the set. It was a great rematch, and both players are to be congratulated for a well-played match. But, with an indoor tournament here at Wake Forest, this is as good of a win as anyone had in the country this weekend.?
The top-seeded and third-ranked Foster/Kalsarieva tandem earns an automatic bid to the ITA National Indoor Championships beginning next week in Ann Arbor, Mich. Kalsarieva had already punched her ticket to the singles draw of the ITA National Indoor Championships by making the singles final of the ITA Southeast Regional.
Kalsarieva?s singles victory gives Kentucky its second ITA Southeast Regional champion in as many weeks. UK senior Jesse Witten won the men?s singles event a week ago in Memphis.
AGATE:
ITA Southeast Regional Championships ? Winston-Salem, N.C.
(Tournament Seed/Nat?l Rank)
Singles
(1/9) Aibika Kalsarieva (UK) def. (3/18) Karin Coetzee (WF) ? 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
Doubles
(1/3) S. Foster/Kalsarieva (UK) def. (8/--) Coventry/Schwenk (UK) ? 9-7
