TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ? Top-seeded Kentucky narrowly claimed the doubles point and collected singles wins from Joelle Schwenk, Aibika Kalsarieva and Danielle Petrisko on its way to a 4-1 win over eighth-seeded Mississippi State Friday in the quarterfinals of the SEC Women?s Tennis Tournament at the Alabama Tennis Stadium.

Kentucky?s 30th-ranked tandem of sophomores Kim Coventry and Joelle Schwenk kicked off doubles play with an easy 8-0 win at No. 2 over MSU?s Magdi Rekasi and Hayley Rudman. UK?s sixth-ranked pair of Sarah Foster and Aibika Kalsarieva held a 4-3 lead at the No. 1 slot, but MSU?s Zsuzsanna Fodor and Anastasia Kugakolova seized control of the match, taking five of last six games to win, 8-5. UK?s Emily Foster and Lara Maurer held a 7-5 lead at third doubles, but MSU?s Tarryn Rudman and Polina Kokoulina pulled even at seven. UK regained the lead at 8-7, but MSU rebounded to force a tiebreaker. The Bulldogs took a 3-1 led in the breaker, but UK captured seven of the final eight points to clinch the match and the doubles point.

Kentucky extended its lead to 2-0 when Schwenk handily defeated MSU?s Renee Joseph at fourth singles, 6-2, 6-0. The Bulldogs cut the deficit to 2-1 when Kugakolova scored a 6-2, 6-3 win over UK?s Sarah Foster at the third singles position. UK?s Kalsarieva extended the Wildcat lead to 3-1 with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over MSU?s Fodor at first singles to extend her unbeaten streak to 19 matches. Kentucky?s Danielle Petrisko sealed the Wildcat victory, defeating Polina Kokoulina by a 6-2, 6-4 count at the sixth singles position.

UK Coach Mark Guilbeau commended the effort put forth by both teams.

?We had a much better effort in singles than doubles, and a lot of that was due to the high quality of doubles play from Mississippi State,? Guilbeau said. ?MSU was very impressive, especially after playing an eight-hour match yesterday. If our team is ready to work hard enough on and off the court, we can earn the type of results we?re capable of getting.?

UK awaits fifth-seeded Georgia in Saturday?s semifinals. The Bulldogs scored a convincing 4-1 win over fourth-seeded Tennessee Friday after falling to the Lady Vols last weekend in Knoxville. The Cats captured a 4-1 win over UGA a season ago in the SEC quarterfinals. Kentucky dealt Georgia a 4-3 defeat two weeks ago in Athens.

Kentucky 4, Mississippi State 1

Doubles
1. Fodor/Kugakolova (MSU) def. No. 6 S. Foster/Kalsarieva (UK) ? 8-5
2. No. 30 Coventry/Schwenk (UK) def. Rekasi/H. Rudman (MSU) ? 8-0
3. E. Foster/Maurer (UK) def. T. Rudman/Kokoulina (MSU) ? 9-8 (4)

Singles
1. No. 3 Aibika Kalsarieva (UK) def. Zsuzsanna Fodor (MSU) ? 6-1, 6-2
2. No. 38 Kim Coventry (UK) vs. Anastasia Kugakolova (MSU) ? 6-3, 2-1, susp.
3. Tarryn Rudman (MSU) def. No. 54 Sarah Foster (UK) ? 6-2, 6-3
4. Joelle Schwenk (UK) def. Renee Joseph (MSU) ? 6-2, 6-0
5. Lara Maurer (UK) vs. Magdi Rekasi (MSU) ? 6-1, 3-4, susp.
6. Danielle Petrisko (UK) def. Polina Kokoulina (MSU) ? 6-2, 6-4