Adachi and Sutjiadi Return With No. 1 Doubles Ranking for 2016
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky women’s
tennis players Mami Adachi and Aldila Sutjiadi will begin the fall of 2016 in a
familiar spot atop the rankings, as the Oracle ITA Division I Women’s Tennis
Rankings were released on Tuesday afternoon with the Wildcat duo of Adaichi and
Sutjiadi slotted No. 1 nationally in doubles.
“These rankings are a reflection of our past
performance and our past work,” UK head coach Carlos Drada said. “If we work in the manner in which we are
capable our team will definitely have a stronger presence in terms of team and
individual rankings.”
The pair finished last season No. 1 in doubles
play with an impressive 15-2 overall record and perfect 11-0 mark in
Southeastern Conference play. Last fall, the team paired up for a 12-2 record
to make for a total 2016 overall record of 27-4. If you combine last year’s
27-4 record with their play prior, the team has a career total record of 34-12.
The team was honored as an ITA Doubles
All-American a season ago, becoming the first All-Americans in Kentucky’s
program since the 2007 season. The pair went 17-2 during the dual season, only
dropping the first two sets of the season and earned the No. 2 overall
seed into the NCAA Doubles Championship and advanced to the Elite Eight with
wins over Stanford and Mississippi State.
Individually, Sutjiadi will start off the fall
season ranked No. 22 nationally in singles. She is one of 15 players inside the
top 22 from the SEC, who also has 16 of the top 25 players in the nation in the
ITA’s initial rankings release. Sutjiadi was the winner of the Elite 90 Award
for the second consecutive season in 2015 after holding a 4.0 GPA in
mathematical economics and was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America At Large
Third Team, the first Wildcat to be named an Academic All-American in nearly
two decades.
She was Kentucky’s lone representative in the
NCAA Singles Championship, falling in the Round of 64 to No. 12 Julia Elbaba of
Virginia. In singles, she posted a 16-7 record during the season for the team’s
top winning percentage and went 8-4 in SEC play.
The Kentucky women’s tennis team will have a
first serve of its fall season on Friday, Sept. 29 at the Northwestern
Invitational in Evanston, Ill.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow @UKMensTennis on Twitter and
Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
