The University of Kentucky women?s tennis program made its first top-five appearance in the Intercollegiate Tennis Associate (ITA) women?s college tennis rankings released Wednesday. The Cats come in at No. 3 behind the last two NCAA champions, No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 Florida.

Kentucky moved from No. 14 to No. 3 by way of its best performance ever at the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships last week in Madison, Wis. Kentucky opened the tournament by defeating then-No. 3 Clemson, 5-2, in the round of 16. UK made its first-ever appearance in the semifinals by way of a 5-2 quarterfinal win over No. 15 North Carolina, whom the Cats face again this Saturday in Chapel Hill.

Kentucky earned its first appearance in a national-team championship final with a thrilling 4-3 victory over No. 8 Duke in the semifinals. Top-ranked Stanford eliminated Kentucky in the final, 4-0.

Kentucky takes its No. 3 ranking on the road this weekend when the Cats meet Minnesota and North Carolina

 1. Stanford 2. Florida T3. Kentucky T3. Georgia 5. Northwestern 6. Duke 7. Clemson 8. Vanderbilt 9. Washington 10. Miami (Fla.) 11. UCLA 12. Southern California 13. North Carolina 14. Texas 15. Tulane 16. California 17. Harvard 18. Tennessee 19. Texas A&M 20. TCU 21. Notre Dame 22. Fresno State 23. BYU 24. Oklahoma 25. Oregon