UK Doubles Falls to No. 5 California in NCAA Round of 16

May 22, 2015

WACO, Texas -The No. 25 University of Kentucky women’s tennis doubles team of Mami Adachi and Aldila Sutjiadi fell just short of an upset victory for the second consecutive day to advance in the doubles tournament of the NCAA Championships Friday.

A day after knocking off No. 12 Oklahoma State to advance to the NCAA Round of 16, Adachi and Sutjiadi fell to No. 5 California, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-1 at Baylor’s Hurd Tennis Center.

In their first career NCAA Championships, Adachi, a freshman, and Sutjiadi, a sophomore, became the first UK doubles team to advance to the Round of 16 since 2009 and the sixth in program history.

UK opened with a hard-fought, 7-6 (4) win in the first set. California won the opening game, but the Wildcats stormed back to take the next three for a 3-1 lead. The Golden Bears rallied to tie it at 3-3 before they took a 5-4 lead.

Kentucky responded to tie the set at 5-5 and again tied it at 6-6 after Cal went ahead again, 6-5. In tiebreakers, Adachi and Sutjiadi jumped out to a 4-1 lead before winning 7-4 to take the opening set of the top-25 matchup.

Cal jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set, which it extended to 5-1. UK took the next two games to cut California’s lead to 5-3 before the Bears earned the win at 6-3. In the third set, Cal took a commanding 5-0 lead and won 6-1.

The loss ends the season for the Wildcats, who earned an NCAA Tournament berth as a team in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2008-09. Individually, Adachi and Sutjiadi represented consecutive NCAA Championships bids for Kentucky, also for the first time since 2008-09.

Visit UKathletics.com for the most up-to-date information on the Kentucky women’s tennis team and all 22 varsity sports. For additional info, notes, and behind-the-scenes updates, follow the team on Twitter at @UKWomensTennis and on Facebook.