CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? The Kentucky women?s tennis team starts play in the main draw of the Wilson/ITA Southeast Regional on Friday afternoon at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.

Senior Kim Coventry leads the way for the Wildcats, earning a number five seed in the draw. She will face Masha Ilina of East Tennessee State in the first round on Friday. Second and third round play is Saturday with the quarterfinals and semis on Sunday. The championship takes place Monday.

Coventry is joined in the singles draw by Carolina Escamilla and Joelle Schwenk. Escamilla is in the top half of the draw with Coventry and faces Elena Triebskom of Longwood in round one.

Schwenk begins in the bottom half of the bracket with a match against Laura Reichert of North Carolina. The two met just a few weeks ago at the UT Invite in Knoxville, with Schwenk emerging victorious.

In doubles play, Coventry and Schwenk earned a first round by due to their No. 4 overall seed. Caroline Winebrenner and Jessica Guigglioli were in the midst of a first-round match against Larisa Bekmetova and Paula Pereira of Winthrop at release time.

Also in first round doubles action, Escamilla and Whitney Spencer fell to the ninth-seeded duo of Ghizella Schutte and Caitlin Whoriskey of Tennessee, 8-6.

In singles qualifying action on Thursday, UK was not able to push any of its three competitors through to the main draw.

Freshman Christine Johnston came the closest by winning her first match handily, 6-1, 6-0 over Elena Volubueva of East Tennessee State. However, she lost a close contest to second-seeded Samantha Orlin of Tennessee, 6-4, 7-6 (6).

Giugglioli was seeded fifth in qualifying but was upset in the first round by N.C. State?s Neils Barringer, 6-4, 6-3. Winebrenner dropped a pair of tiebreakers to lose in straight sets in her qualifier, losing to No. 8-seed Miranda Gutierrez of South Carolina, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4).