May 21, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Kentucky’s senior Carolina Escamilla and freshman Caroline Lilley caused one of the biggest upsets during the NCAA Doubles Championship Thursday evening. The Wildcat duo defeated the No. 3 seed of Andrea Remynse and Yasmin Schnack of UCLA in the Round of 32 at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center at host school Texas A&M. Escamilla and Lilley will play again Friday, May 22 at 4 p.m. ET.
Doubles matches at the NCAA Tournament are played in the best of three sets format, which was what it took for the Cats to topple the top seeded tandem. Escamilla and Lilley fell behind early, losing the first set, 6-2, but grabbed an early lead in the second set to outperform the Bruins 6-1. Securing the win and ticket to the Round of 16 on Friday was a solid 6-4 win by the Blue and White in the third and final set.
“I am really pleased with our performance today,” head coach Carlos Drada stated. “Despite a slow start, our players played with great composure and remained aggressive under extreme pressure. I am proud of their strong efforts and I look forward to the matches in front of us.”
While the Cats look forward to advancing in the tournament, they must also refocus their attention on the next day’s competition. A rematch from the NCAA Second Round is in the future for Kentucky as Escamilla and Lilley take to the service line opposite Northwestern’s Georgia Rose and Lauren Lui, a team UK played just weeks ago in Evanston, Ill. Lui and Rose are ranked top-25 and defeated the Blue and White’s top duo 8-4 in the teams’ last meeting.
Kentucky’s tandem was not the only one to cause a stir. Three other seeded teams were knocked out of the tournament during the first day of competition. Florida’s Marrit Boonstra and Joanna Mather defeated the No. 4 seed while two pairs seeded five through eight were also beaten, leaving only four seeded teams for tomorrow’s Round of 16.
