CLEMSON, S.C. – The No. 20 Kentucky women’s tennis team advanced to its fifth consecutive NCAA Sweet Sixteen Saturday with a 4-0 win over host and 15th-ranked Clemson at the Hoke Sloan Tennis Center.
The Wildcats (19-9) advance to next weekend’s regional semifinal to face the winner of the Michigan-Notre Dame match to be held at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.
“This win is a testament to the hard work that everyone involved with this program has given through the whole year,” head coach Carlos Drada said. “I would like to thank (assistant coach) David Vest and our players for believing in themselves and implementing basic strategies during the whole year. All the credit goes to them.”
Kentucky got off to a quick start by winning the doubles point. The Wildcats improve to 17-1 this season when capturing the doubles point.
In doubles action, senior Danielle Petrisko (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) and junior Caroline Winebrenner (Louisville, Ky.) fell 8-2 to Maria Brito and Marie Scriba before the Wildcats stormed back to capture the point. Junior Lara Maurer (Bay Village, Ohio) and classmate Joelle Schwenk (Coconut Creek, Fla.) defeated Clemson’s Daniela Alvarez and Alexandra Luc, 8-5.
The nation’s 27th-ranked tandem of Kim Coventry (Melbourne, Australia) and Carolina Escamilla (Medellin, Colombia) clinched the match with a hard-fought 9-7 win over Clemson’s Carol Salge and Federica van Adrichem.
The Cats carried the momentum of doubles play over to singles action as Schwenk made quick work of van Adrichem, 6-3, 6-0.
On court five, Escamilla dropped the first set to Luc 6-2 before coming back to dominate the next two sets 6-0, 6-1. Freshman Jessica Giuggioli (Torino, Italy) clinched the match when she topped the Tigers’ Kathi Gerber in the six position 6-4, 6-1. The Wildcats improved to 9-1 this season when the freshmen pair of Escamilla and Guiggioli sweep their matches.
“Today we had our year’s best performance,” Drada said, “We came from behind during two doubles matches and everyone fought hard in their individual matches. I believe that a lot of momentum was won after the doubles. However, we were ready to battle on every singles match and that is exactly what we did.”
Kentucky improves to 7-3 all-time vs. Clemson.
Kentucky 4, Clemson 0 (Clemson, S.C.)
Doubles
1. Coventry and Carolina Escamilla (UK) def. Carol Salge and Federica van Adrichem (CU), 9-7
2. Joelle Schwenk and Lara Maurer (UK) def. Daniela Alvarez and Alexandra Luc (CU), 8-5
3. Maria Brito and Marie Scriba (CU) def. Danielle Petrisko and Caroline Winebrenner (UK), 8-2
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles
1. Carol Sagle (CU) vs. Kim Coventry (UK), dnf
2. Daniela Alvarez (CU) vs. Lara Maurer (UK), dnf
3. Joelle Schwenk (UK) def. Federica van Adrichem (CU), 6-3, 6-0
4. Maria Brito (CU) vs. Danielle Petrisko (UK), dnf
5. Carolina Escamilla (UK) def. Alexandra Luc (CU), 2-6, 6-0, 6-1
6. Jessica Guiggioli (UK) def. Kathi Gerber (CU), 6-4, 6-1
Order of Finish 3, 5, 6
