Mikulskyte Upsets Three ITA/Oracle Top 20 Opponents Last Weekend, Named SEC Player of the Week
LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the second time in her career, senior Justina Mikulskyte of the No. 22 University of Kentucky women’s tennis team is named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week, announced by the league office on Wednesday.
In week four of conference play, Mikulskyte put together a string of singles and doubles matches that include upsetting each of her ITA/Oracle Top 20 opponents, as UK hosted No. 31 Florida and No. 6 South Carolina at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center.
The Lithuania native helped UK defeat Florida on Friday for the first time in 10 years, when Mikulskyte, ranked No. 35 in the nation’s singles poll, upset the 16th-best player in Ida Jarlskog of Florida, 6-3, 6-4.
On Sunday, she and partner redshirt-junior Akvile Paražinskaite, ranked No. 14 in doubles, defeated the best-ranked doubles pair in the nation – No. 1 Mia Horvit and Gamarra Martins – only giving up three games in a 6-3 outcome.
Meanwhile, the upperclassmen duo is unbeaten in six matches against nationally-ranked opponents. It came just one week after Mikulskyte and Paražinskaite defeated the third-ranked doubles pair in the nation and 2018 NCAA Doubles Champions at LSU.
The UK pair ride six-match win streak (SEC 6-1), the best active win streak on the team in either discipline. In addition, the doubles win against South Carolina helped the Wildcats to its first doubles point in four straight dual matches.
Riding the momentum of upsetting the best doubles pair in the nation, Mikulskyte followed it up by handedly upsetting No. 7 Martins of USC in singles. Mikulskyte, No. 35 in the nation’s singles poll, outscored the Gamecock on a 6-1, 6-3 mark. Mikulskyte is now 6-1 against nationally-ranked opponents in singles.
UK will find another roster chalk full of ranked players on Friday, when the program hosts No. 5 Vanderbilt at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center at 5 p.m. Fans can enjoy free parking in any of the three E lots adjacent to the tennis courts one hour prior to the first serve, or in parking structure No. 7 after 3 p.m. As always, admission is free.
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.
