Fall Tennis Begins at Baylor Invite, Wildcat Invite
WACO, Texas and EVANSTON, Ill. – Competing for the same team more than 1,000 miles apart, the University of Kentucky women’s tennis program will commence the fall schedule in two locations on Oct. 4-6 at the Baylor Invite and the Wildcat Invite.
Kentucky will bring a veteran lineup to the Baylor Invite, hosted in Waco, Texas, including graduate student Akvile Paražinskaite, senior Diana Tkachenko, redshirt junior Lesedi Jacobs and sophomore Carla Girbau. The Bears will host the annual invite at the Hurd Tennis Center, and the matches are slated to begin each morning at 10 a.m. ET.
Thirteen teams highlight the field, including Auburn, Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, Illinois, Iowa State, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M and UTSA. The contest features seven teams ranked in the International Tennis Association/Oracle Top 50 at the end of the 2018-19 season, including two top-25 teams in Texas and Texas A&M.
In 2019, Kentucky faced all five of the Southeastern Conference teams featured in the field, earning wins over Auburn, Arkansas, LSU and Mississippi State.
Meanwhile, senior Anastasia Tkachenko, junior Brianna Tulloch and freshmen Carlota Molina and Maialen Morante will represent UK at the annual Wildcat Invite, hosted by Northwestern, in Evanston, Illinois.
Live scoring will not be available for either tournament, but scores will be made available here at the end of each competition day.
Fall tournaments are designed to give collegiate players practice ahead of the regular season and do not replicate a dual-match format where teams compete head-to-head. Scores are attached to the athlete for preseason ranking and professional ranking purposes, but are not reflected in their regular-season records.
The ITA/Oracle Top 25 Preseason Rankings will be released on Nov. 13. The Kentucky women’s tennis team earned the No. 27 spot in the polls at the end of last season, after making a run in the postseason that reached the SEC Championship Quarterfinals and the NCAA Second Round.
Next on the Schedule
Select players will compete in the International Tennis Federation 15K in Florence, South Carolina, on Oct. 12-18. The ITF produces opportunities to earn rank in the World Tennis Association where players compete as unaffiliated individuals.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s tennis program, follow @UKWomensTennis on Twitter and on Instagram, on Facebook and on the web at UKathletics.com.
