The No. 13 Kentucky women?s tennis team returns to action Friday when the Cats take on No. 39 Maryland in College Park, Md. The Cats will return to the Terps? home courts on Saturday for a match up against 29th-ranked Texas A&M.

The Wildcats (3-0, 0-0 SEC) have gotten off to a fast start to the 2006 season with wins against Richmond, Marshall and Louisville.

In the early going, UK has gotten many strong performances. One of Wildcats who has stood out has been senior Danielle Petrisko who was named Southeastern Conference Co-Player of the Week on Tuesday for her play against the Spiders and Thundering Herd. The Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., native was the lone Cat to win both of her singles and doubles matches this past Saturday.

Against Louisville, freshman Jessica Giuggioli came up big when she clinched the match for Kentucky by defeating the Cards? Natalia Baez 6-7, 6-4, 6-0. The win against Louisville was the third straight singles victory for Giuggioli to begin her young career.

Juniors Kim Coventry, Lara Maurer and Joelle Schwenk have also contributed solid early performances in both singles and doubles matches to help the Cats to an early unbeaten record.

This weekend?s matches will be the openers for both of Kentucky?s opponents. UK holds a 4-0 all-time record against Maryland and 9-1 series record against TAMU.

Fans can check ukathletics.com this weekend for recaps of both matches.