April 5, 2009
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A determined team of Wildcats swept the Mississippi State Bulldogs Sunday afternoon in straight sets at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex. All six singles and two doubles courts went to the Blue and White as the No. 20 Kentucky women’s tennis team (12-6 overall, 3-5 Southeastern Conference) triumphed 7-0 over MSU (9-7, 0-7 SEC) to split the weekend.
Courts one and two were quickly divided among the two teams. Megan Broderick and Christine Johnston for the Wildcats grabbed a convincing 8-2 victory over Natalia Mayuk and Olesya Tsigvintseva on court two while UK’s Carolina Escamilla and Caroline Lilley fell to Martina Banikova and Elna de Villiers 8-3 on one. For the third consecutive match, Whitney Spencer and partner Lauren Meier have clinched the doubles point for Kentucky. The court three duo remains undefeated in conference play and improved their overall record to 7-1 as they handed an 8-5 decision to Radka Ferancova and Valeriya Makarycheva.
The match was clinched by Spencer’s 7-5, 6-1 win on court five over Mayuk. Helping to set up the fourth point were victories by Broderick and Lilley on courts two and six, respectively. UK’s Broderick was the first off the courts for the Cats as she outperformed Banikova, 6-1, 6-1. The Tampa, Fla., native’s win marked her first in 10 matches since grabbing a 6-4, 6-2 win over Indiana’s Katya Zapadolova earlier this season. Portland, Ore., freshman Lilley nabbed a 6-2, 6-4 results on the last court over Daniela Juskova.
Completing the Wildcat sweep were Escamilla, Meier and Johnston. Escamilla earned her second court one win as she defeated Tsigvintseva, 6-3, 6-4. The Medellin, Colombia, native had to fight back from a two game deficit in the second set to seal her win.
Meier and Fernacova battled in the first set, but after Meier broke the Bulldogs’ serve at 3-3, she never looked back. Meier gained the sixth point for the Blue and White 6-3, 7-5 over Fernacova. Johnston played the longest points of the Wildcats after multiple match points passed her and her opponent, de Villiers, by in the first set. The junior out of Columbus, Ohio, went on to defeat Mississippi State, 6-3, 6-2, capping off the perfect score for Kentucky.
The Wildcats will conclude their season with matches against three top-20 institutions. Kentucky faces No. 13 Tennessee and No. 2 Georgia, both on the road next weekend, before returning home to host No. 19 Vanderbilt. The SEC Tournament is the following week in Fayetteville, Ark.
#20 Kentucky 7, #61 Mississippi State 0
Doubles
1. Banikova/de Villiers (MSU) def. #40 Escamilla/Lilley (UK), 8-3
2. Johnston/ Broderick (UK) def. Mayuk/Tsigvintseva (MSU), 8-2
3. Meier/Spencer (UK) def. Ferancova/Makarycheva (MSU), 8-5
Singles
1. Carolina Escamilla (UK) def. Olesya Tsigvintseva (MSU), 6-3, 6-4
2. Megan Broderick (UK) def. Martina Banikova (MSU), 6-1, 6-1
3. Lauren Meier (UK) def. Radka Fernacova (MSU), 6-3, 7-5
4. Christine Johnston (UK) def. Elna de Villiers (MSU), 6-3, 6-2
5. Whitney Spencer (UK) def. Natalia Mayuk (MSU), 7-5, 6-1
6. Caroline Lilley (UK) def. Daniela Juskova (MSU), 6-2, 6-4
Finish OrderDoubles: 1, 2, 3 Singles: 2, 6, 5*, 1, 3, 4
