Kentucky senior All-American Aibika Kalsarieva became the first Wildcat ever to reach the top five of the ITA singles rankings Tuesday, garnering a career-best No. 5 ranking.
Kalsarieva, a native of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, is unbeaten in her last 15 singles matches and is the only player in the Southeastern Conference without a loss in conference play. With her 8-0 conference record at No. 1 singles, Kalsarieva has emerged as a leading candidate for SEC Player of the Year.
Kalsarieva also joins with sophomore Sarah Foster (Lexington, Ky.) to solidify the nation?s seventh-ranked doubles tandem. The pair owns a 25-5 overall record and a perfect 7-0 tally at No. 1 singles in conference play. Following closely behind is the 14th-ranked Wildcat duo of sophomores Kim Coventry (Melbourne, Australia) and Joelle Schwenk (Coconut Creek, Fla.), who holds a 27-7 overall record and a 6-1 conference record at No. 2 doubles. Coventry also owns a No. 33 singles ranking, while Foster comes in at No. 50 nationally.
Though unranked, UK?s No. 3 doubles pair also is turning in quite a season. Senior Emily Foster (Lexington, Ky.) and sophomore Lara Maurer (Bay Village, Ohio) hold an 11-3 overall tally while going 6-1 in the SEC. As a whole, Kentucky owns an incredible 19-2 record in SEC doubles action.
UK-Georgia Start Time Moved Up
This Friday?s SEC showdown between No. 5 Kentucky and No. 4 Georgia at UGA?s Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens now will begin at 2 p.m. EDT. The match originally was slated for a 5 p.m. start. Live scoring updates for Friday?s match will be available at ukathletics.com via georgiadogs.com.
With three matches remaining, Kentucky owns a one-game lead over Georgia and Vanderbilt in the SEC standings. On Sunday, the Cats will face another difficult road challenge when Kentucky travels to Knoxville to take on No. 23 Tennessee. The Cats wrap up their regular season on Saturday, Apr. 16 when Kentucky welcomes No. 6 Vanderbilt for Senior Day.
SEC Standings – each team has three conference matches remaining-
Eastern Division SEC Overall Kentucky 8-0 19-3 Vanderbilt 7-1 17-3 Georgia 7-1 13-3 Florida 6-2 12-2 Tennessee 5-3 16-6 South Carolina 4-4 9-6
Western Division SEC Overall Mississippi State 5-3 11-3 Ole Miss 4-4 11-6 LSU 1-7 7-9 Alabama 1-7 6-11 Arkansas 0-8 10-8 Auburn 0-8 7-10
Friday?s SEC Matches
Arkansas at Alabama
LSU at Auburn
Mississippi State at Florida
Kentucky at Georgia
Vanderbilt at Tennessee
Ole Miss at South Carolina
