ATHENS, Ga. ? UK sophomore Kim Coventry and junior Danielle Petrisko scored straight-set singles victories for Kentucky, but 11th-seeded Texas utilized a balanced attack to defeat Kentucky by a 4-2 count Friday in the NCAA women?s tennis quarterfinals at Georgia?s Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Kentucky?s sterling season comes to an end at 26-6.

10th-ranked Texas (24-5) jumped to a quick start in doubles play, taking 6-3 leads at each position before Kentucky responded. At No. 3, Kentucky?s Lara Maurer and Emily Foster pulled within 6-5 and 7-6, but Texas? Kelly Baritot and Courtney Zauft pulled away to secure the victory. UK?s Kim Coventry and Joelle Schwenk came back to take a 7-6 lead at No. 2 over Petra Dizdar and Mia Marovic, but Texas responded and later prevailed in a tiebreak. UK?s Sarah Foster and Aibika Kalsarieva rallied at No. 1 to take a 7-6 lead over Katie Ruckert and Kendra Strohm, though the Longhorns evened the match and took the lead before the match was suspended.

Kentucky?s Danielle Petrisko evened the match at one by defeating Texas? Ristine Olson by a 6-2, 6-0 count at the No. 6 position. Coventry overcame a 5-3 first-set deficit at No. 2 against UT?s Marovic to force a tiebreaker, which she captured to take the first set. Coventry went on to take the second set, 6-2, to give the Cats a 2-1 lead they would not hold for long.

Within minutes of the Cats? win at No. 2, Texas collected three wins to clinch the match. Texas? Dizdar took the first set against the Cats? Kalsarieva, 6-3 and fought off break points in the second to pull away, 6-2 and even the match at two. Only seconds elapsed before Texas? Katie Ruckert posted a 6-3, 6-2 win over Kentucky?s Schwenk to give the ?Horns a 3-2 lead. Less than five minutes later, Texas? Courtney Zauft finished off the win with a 6-3, 6-2 win over UK?s Maurer.

Texas goes on to meet Florida on Saturday in an NCAA semifinal, while Stanford will take on Clemson in the other semifinal.

Kentucky has five entries in next week?s NCAA singles and doubles championships. Kalsarieva, Sarah Foster and Coventry will participate in the 64-player singles tournament slated to begin on Monday, and Schwenk will joined the aforementioned three players in the doubles tournament beginning next Tuesday, May 24.

No. 10 Texas 4, No. 3 Kentucky 2

Doubles
1. No. 7 S. Foster/Kalsarieva (UK) vs. No. 28 Ruckert/Strohm (UT) ? 7-8, susp.
2. Dizdar/Marovic (UT) def. No. 22 Coventry/Schwenk (UK) ? 9-8 (7)
3. Baritot/Zauft (UT) def. E. Foster/Maurer (UK) ? 8-6

Singles
1. No. 54 Petra Dizdar (UT) def. No. 3 Aibika Kalsarieva (UK) ? 6-3, 6-2
2. No. 30 Kim Coventry (UK) def. No. 92 Mia Marovic (UT) ? 7-6 (2), 6-2
3. No. 64 Sarah Foster (UK) vs. No. 84 Kendra Strohm (UT) ? 7-5, 0-1, susp.
4. Katie Ruckert (UT) def. Joelle Schwenk (UK) ? 6-3, 6-2
5. Courtney Zauft (UT) def. Lara Maurer (UK) ? 6-3, 6-4
6. Danielle Petrisko (UK) def. Ristine Olson (UT) ? 6-2, 6-0