ATLANTA ? The Kentucky women?s tennis team begins its run at the 2007 national title on Saturday when it faces Arizona in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Bill Moore Tennis Center on the campus of Georgia Tech.
The battle of Wildcats, slated for 3 p.m., is the second match of the day, following the host Yellow Jackets contest against Furman. Georgia Tech earned the No. 3 overall seed in the field and the right to host the first and second rounds.
?We are really eager to compete and play our best,? Kentucky head coach Carlos Drada said. ?We have had a chance to rest the past few weeks and we?re ready to give our best effort in the tournament.?
Kentucky is coming off a quarterfinal appearance in the SEC Tournament where it fell to 15th-ranked Vanderbilt in a hard-fought 4-2 decision more than two weeks ago. Arizona has not played a dual match since the end of the regular season nearly three weeks ago.
Led by All-Southeastern Conference performers Joelle Schwenk and Sarah Woestmann, the Wildcats posted an 18-7 overall record to this point. Schwenk leads the team in overall wins with a 28-10 record. Woestmann has the squad?s best dual mark at 20-4. She and fellow freshman Whitney Spencer are an incredible 36-8 combined in dual play this year.
In a big change entering the tournament, UK is shuffling its doubles teams and, as a result, the nation?s sixth-ranked pair of Schwenk and Kim Coventry will not play together. Coventry and Woestmann will occupy the No. 1 doubles spot while Schwenk and sophomore Carolina Escamilla pair up at No. 2. The top pairing has played together just once before while the second duo never has.
Over the past five years, UK has become one of the best teams in the nation come tournament time. The Wildcats have reached the round of 16 each year since 2002, including a quarterfinal appearance in 2005.