Lexington, Ky. ? The No. 28 Kentucky women?s tennis team extended its winning streak to a season-best six matches Sunday with a 6-1 victory over No. 22 Tennessee at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center. The victory improved the Cats? record to 14-6 (7-1 Southeastern Conference) on the season.
Kentucky got off to a hot start by sweeping the doubles matches to go up 1-0. Senior Danielle Petrisko and junior Caroline Winebrenner started the Cats? winning ways by blanking the Lady Vols? Samantha Orlin and Haley Pendergrass 8-0. The duo moved to 7-1 in the SEC this season. UK clinched the point when junior Kim Coventry and freshman Carolina Escamilla defeated UT?s Melissa Schaub and Ghizela Schutte 9-7. The team of Joelle Schwenk and Lara Maurer rounded out the Cats? doubles success by beating UT?s Vicky Jones and Blakeley Griffith (UT) 8-7.
?We did a great job of earning the doubles point again and setting the tone for the rest of the match,? assistant coach David Vest said. ?We have won the doubles point in all of our conference victories and it has really helped take the pressure off going into singles play. Today was another good example of that.?
In singles action, UK was equally as dominant winning five of six matches.
Escamilla recorded the first Kentucky victory when she swept Orlin 6-1, 6-4. The Medellin, Colombia, native extended her winning streak to nine matches and is a perfect 8-0 in SEC action. Schwenk followed shortly after with her seventh SEC win by beating Griffith 6-1, 6-2.
At the No. 4 spot in the lineup, Petrisko put UK up 5-0 with a 6-1, 6-4, win over Schutte. No. 39 Kim Coventry notched her fourth SEC win by outlasting Schaub 6-4, 3-6, 10-5.
?The women are doing a great job of preparing each week for the weekend?s matches,? Vest said. ?We have to continue preparing well for our remaining SEC matches.?
The Cats will return to the Boone Tennis Center on Friday for their final home match of the season against No. 34 South Carolina at 4 p.m. EST. Kentucky will conduct senior day ceremonies prior to the match for Petrisko. Fans can check ukathletics.com for live stats and a recap following the match.
No. 28 UK def. No. 22 UT 6-1
Doubles
1.Coventry/Escamilla (UK) def. Schaub/Schutte (UT) – 9-7
2.Schwenk/Maurer (UK) def. Jones/Griffith (UT) – 8-7 (3)
3.Petrisko/Winebrenner (UK) def. Orlin/Pendergrass (UT) – 8-0
Singles
1.Kim Coventry (UK) def. Melissa Schaub (UT) – 6-4, 3-6, 10-5
2.Vicky Jones (UT) def. Lara Maurer (UK) – 6-3, 6-3
3.Joelle Schwenk (UK) def. Blakeley Griffith (UT) – 6-1, 6-2
4.Danielle Petrisko (UK) def. Ghizela Schutte (UT) – 6-1, 6-4
5.Carolina Escamilla (UK) def. Samantha Orlin (UT) – 6-1, 6-4
6.Jessica Giuggioli (UK) def. Haley Pendergrass (UT) – default
