Kentucky Clinches Doubles, Singles to Defeat Auburn
AUBURN, Ala. – For the second time this season, the No. 18 Kentucky women’s tennis team defeated Auburn, this time registering a win on the Tigers’ home court Sunday. The Wildcats move to a 13-2 mark in the regular season, compiling a 3-1 mark in conference play. UK is only one win away from matching the wins reported last year in its 14-11 season.
No. 18 Kentucky clinched the doubles point for the 12th time this year, giving Kentucky the early advantage. The charge was led by the ranked duo on court one. Senior Justina Mikulskyte and redshirt-junior Akvile Paražinskaite, the 55th-best pair in the nation, defeated No. 64 Jaeda Daniel and Madeline Meredith by a 6-2 outcome. The upperclassmen are 8-3 in doubles overall, each finish happening on court one.
Court two and court three were in a race to finish first, with Kentucky twosomes leading each court. The faithful pair in freshman Tiphanie Fiquet and redshirt-sophomore Lesedi Jacobs pulled ahead, finishing second on court two with a 6-4 victory. Junior Anastasia Tkachenko and freshman Alexis Merrill retired their match in a tie, 5-5.
Fiquet and Jacobs moved into the doubles poll for the first time on Wednesday. The 76th-best pair in the nation are 11-1 this season, with each victory happening on court two.
Auburn tallied the first singles win, carding a 6-4, 6-1 win on court five over Wildcat Diana Tkachenko. The junior was unbeaten in singles before today, but boasts 12-1 record in the individual division.
Seconds later, Jacobs rallied a 7-5, 6-2 victory on court three to put the Wildcats up one (2-1) in the dual match. Jacobs has only dropped two singles matches all season, boasting an 8-2 record.
Kentucky’s No. 1 singles player in Mikulskyte, the 48th-best player in the nation, carded the next singles win, claiming a 6-2, 6-4 mark over No. 78 Daniel, to put Kentucky up two (3-1). With the win, Mikulskyte matched Jacobs’ singles record, 8-2. It is her third victory over a ranked player this season, each victory happening on court one.
UK only needed one more point to seal the deal and A. Tkachenko delivered. The junior defeated Carolina Turner on court six with a 6-4, 6-4 performance to give Kentucky the win. Twin sister of D. Tkachenko, she moves to a 9-2 mark in singles in the regular season, collecting wins on courts Nos. 4-6.
After Kentucky lost to Auburn at home last year in a stiff 4-3 decision, UK took care of business this season by clinching the series two duals to zero. The Wildcats lead the Tigers in all-time meetings 26-13.
The dual match over Auburn was the second match in a string of four road matches. The program will travel to Louisiana to meet LSU on Friday, March 15 at 5 p.m. The club will make the trek to College Station, Texas, to face Texas A&M on Sunday, March 17 at noon.
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.
