MADISON, Wisc. ? Junior Kim Coventry (Melbourne, Australia) upset her second-consecutive top-20 opponent Saturday, but the No. 12 Kentucky women?s tennis team fell to No. 3 Georgia Tech 6-1. The match concludes play for the Wildcats in the USTA-ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championships that was played at the University of Wisconsin?s A.C. Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
The Wildcats (5-3) finish competition at the USTA-ITA Indoors with an 0-3 record and 8-14 all-time in three appearances in the prestigious tournament. Each of the Cats? three matches in this year?s tournament came against opponents ranked in the top five nationally.
The Wildcats dropped the doubles point after the Yellow Jackets picked up victories at each of the three doubles positions. The 18th-ranked duo of Coventry and Joelle Schwenk (Coconut Creek, Fla.) fell to the 26th-ranked tandem of Kristi Miller and Lyndsay Shosho, before Carolina Escamilla (Medellin, Antioquia, Columbia) and Lara Maurer (Bay Village, Ohio) fell to 42nd-ranked Whitney McCray and Kelly Anderson. Alison Siverio and Tarryn Rudman were able to win the tiebreaker 8-7 (3) with UK?s Danielle Petrisko (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) and Caroline Winebrenner (Louisville, Ky.) to sweep through doubles play.
Georgia Tech started singles play strong by picking up victories at each of its first three positions. Silverio claimed an easy 6-1, 6-1 victory over Escamilla before Christy Striplin cruised past Petrisko, 6-2, 6-2. Rudman went three sets with Schwenk, who rebounded from a 6-3 loss in the first set to take the second set 6-3. Schwenk, however, fell 6-4 in the decisive final set.
The 53rd-ranked Coventry then improved to 2-1 in singles action at the USTA-ITA Indoors by sweeping past Georgia Tech?s No. 7 Kristi Miller, 6-2, 6-3. The Yellow Jackets were able to close out the match as Shosho defeated Mauer, 6-4, 6-2 and McCray topped Jessica Guiggioli (Tarino, Italy), 6-3, 6-1.
Kentucky returns to action next weekend when it travels to West Lafayette, Ind., to take on Rice at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Cats then take on host Purdue at 12 p.m. Sunday. A complete recap and results of next weekend?s matches will be available on ukathletics.com.
No. 3 Georgia Tech 6, No. 12 Kentucky 1 (February 4, 2006 ? Madison, Wisc.)
Doubles
Kristi Miller/Lyndsay Shosho (GT) def. Kim Coventry/Joelle Schwenk (UK), 8-4
Whitney McCray/Kelly Anderson (GT) def. Carolina Escamilla/Lara Maurer, 8-4
Alison Silverio/Tarryn Rudman (GT) def. Danielle Petrisko/Caroline Winebrenner (UK), 8-7(3)
Singles
Kim Coventry (UK) def. Kristi Miller (GT), 6-2, 6-3
Tarryn Rudman (GT) def. Joelle Schwenk (UK), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
Lyndsay Shosho (GT) def. Lara Maurer (UK), 6-4, 6-2
Alison Silverio (GT) def. Carolina Escamilla (UK), 6-1, 6-1
Whitney McCray (GT) def. Jessica Guiggioli (UK), 6-3, 6-1
Christy Striplin (GT) def. Danielle Petrisko (UK), 6-2, 6-2
