Notes
This Weekend’s Matches
The No. 19 Kentucky women’s tennis team returns to the courts Saturday looking to snap a three-match skid against 57th-ranked Rice in West Lafayette, Ind. The match is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EST. The Cats will then take on 40th-ranked Purdue on Sunday at noon EST.
Cats in the Rankings
Kentucky is currently ranked 19th in the country. UK reached its highest ranking of the year on Jan. 31 at No. 12. The Cats’ lone ranked singles player is junior Kim Coventry. The Melbourne, Australia, native has 17 wins on the year. Coventry is coming off a strong showing at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships (Feb. 2-5) where she defeated Northwestern’s No. 12 Alexis Prousis and Georgia Tech’s 7th-ranked Kristi Miller. Coventry also teams with junior Joelle Schwenk to be the 18th-ranked doubles team.
History
Last season the Wildcats blanked Purdue 7-0. UK holds a 17-1 all-time record against the Boilermakers. Saturday marks the Cats first match against Rice.
Scouting the Opponents
The Owls (3-3) are coming off a 4-2 win over Mississippi State on Feb. 10. Rice has dropped all three of its matches against ranked teams this season (No. 17 UCLA, No. 24 Pepperdine and No. 42 LSU). Rice enters Saturday’s match with a pair of ranked singles players in No. 31 Blair DiSesa and 68th-ranked Dominique Karas. The Boilermakers (2-2) are currently on a modest two match winning streak after defeating Miami (Ohio) and DePaul on Feb. 4. Purdue also has two ranked singles players in No. 29 Hala Sufi and 54th-ranked Randi Schuler. During the fall season at the St. Mary’s Classic in Knoxville, Tenn., UK’s Coventry defeated both Rice’s DiSesa and Purdue’s Sufi.
Facing Nothing but the Best
Seven of the Cats first eight opponents are currently ranked in the top-75 in the nation. At the ITA NTIC, UK faced three teams in the top-10 (No. 1 Stanford, No. 7 Georgia Tech and No. 8 Northwestern).
Next Time Out
The Cats travel to Coral Gables, Fla., Thurs., Feb. 23, for another match up against a traditional national power in No. 13 Miami (Fla.). On Sat., Feb. 25, UK travels to Tampa, to take on South Florida.
