No. 18 Kentucky Set for Second Dual Match with Auburn
AUBURN, Ala. – After dropping its first conference match on the road at Alabama on Friday, No. 18 Kentucky will test Auburn for the second time this season in a noon serve on Sunday in Auburn, Alabama.
The Wildcats, who defeated Arkansas and Missouri in the opening weekend of conference play before dropping their first road match to Alabama, boasts a 12-2 mark in the regular season and 2-1 mark in the league. Two additional notches in the win column and UK will have matched the wins reported last year in its 14-11 season.
Kentucky and Auburn have met once this season on a neutral court at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in late January. The Wildcats topped the Tigers in a flawless 4-0 decision. The matchup is not included in the conference record, but it advanced the Wildcats to the Championship Match of the weekend tournament. UK holds the all-time winning mark against Auburn, 25-13.
The Tigers are 13-5 overall, but have not won a dual match in three league meetings this season. The Tigers incurred losses to Texas A&M and LSU on the road, and 2018 national runner-ups Vanderbilt at home on Friday.
Auburn, who is No. 36 in the ITA Rankings, has one singles player in the singles ranking, and two pairs in the doubles ranking – identical to the amount of Wildcats in the polls.
Senior Justina Mikulskyte is the 48th-best singles player in the nation, and Mikulskyte paired with redshirt-junior Akvile Paražinskaite are No. 55 in the doubles ranking. Freshman Tiphanie Fiquet and redshirt-sophomore Lesedi Jacobs moved into the polls on Wednesday as the 76th-best duo in the nation.
For Auburn, Jaeda Daniel is No. 72 on the singles poll. Sophia Graver and Taylor Russo are the 22nd-best duo in the nation, who Mikulskyte and Paražinskaite defeated earlier in the season. Finally, Tigers’ Daniel Madeline Meredith are No. 64 in the doubles poll.
Live scoring can be accessed at http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statmonitr.php?gid=aub. Weather permitting, a live stream will be available at https://auburntigers.com/sports/2019/1/8/womens-tennis-stream.aspx.
For more on Kentucky women’s tennis, follow @UKWomensTennis on Twitter and Instagram, Kentucky Women’s Tennis on Facebook, or on the web at UKathletics.com.
