The Kentucky women?s tennis program will make its third-consecutive appearance in the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships in February, as announced by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). The 16-team tournament is set for Feb. 3-6, 2005 at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium on the campus of Wisconsin.

Kentucky will make its sixth appearance in the tournament and third under Coach Mark Guilbeau. The Cats hold a 5-10 overall tournament record and advanced to the quarterfinals in 1988 and 1989. Kentucky is one of eight schools to qualify for the last three USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

UK suffered losses to No. 8 Northwestern and No. 13 Harvard before handily defeating No. 5 Southern California at the 2004 USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Joining the Cats in the field are SEC counterparts Georgia and Vanderbilt, as well as Stanford, who dealt Kentucky a round-of-16 defeat on its way to the 2004 NCAA team title.

Cats Earn High Regional Rankings Kentucky capped a stellar fall season by earning equally impressive ITA Southeast Regional rankings. Senior Aibika Kalsarieva and sophomore Sarah Foster claimed the top doubles ranking in the region after winning the ITA Southeast Regional doubles title in October. Kalsarieva captured the ITA Southeast Regional singles title and ends the fall with a No. 2 regional ranking. Foster comes in at No. 5 in the region, while sophomore Kim Coventry takes the No. 8 ranking after a breakout fall season. Coventry and sophomore Joelle Schwenk own the No. 3 doubles ranking in the region.

Kentucky and Stanford are the only two schools in the nation with three top-eight singles players and two top-three doubles pairs in their respective regions.

The Cats return to action on Jan. 25 against Louisville and Marshall at UK?s Boone Tennis Center.