UK Women’s Tennis Collected Two Championship Titles in Opening Weekend
WACO, Texas and EVANSTON, Ill. – In its opening weekend of the fall season, the University of Kentucky women’s tennis team racked up a doubles and a singles championship title competing more than 1,000 miles apart at the Wildcat Invite and the Baylor Invite.
Hosted by Baylor in Waco, Texas, the veteran duo in Akvile Paražinskaite and Lesedi Jacobs defeated four doubles teams en route to becoming the Baylor Invite main doubles draw champions. The Kentucky pair came into the tournament as the No. 1 seed and proved their ranking as they competed through the bracket.
Paražinskaite and Jacobs allowed just seven games from their first three doubles opponents, recording a 6-3 win on Friday and a pair of 6-2 wins on Saturday. It was the championship match on Sunday morning that gave UK trouble, but came out on the winning side in a 7-6 (1) decision to top the field.
Kentucky played well in doubles all weekend at the Baylor Invite, dropping just one of seven doubles matches throughout the tournament. In singles, Jacobs and senior Diana Tkachenko each reached the quarterfinals of the main singles draw.
Following suit up the road, freshman Carlota Molina became the Wildcat Invite singles draw “A” champion. Hosted by Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois, the newcomer from Spain defeated three singles opponents to beat the field in her first collegiate tournament. Molina came from behind in two of her three singles matches, including a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 decision in her championship match on Sunday morning.
Notable of Molina, she dropped just one match during the weekend crafting a near perfect record to begin her collegiate career (three singles wins, three doubles wins).
In all, UK players documented 15 of 24 possible singles wins and 10 of 15 possible doubles wins between the two tournaments.
Next on the Schedule
The Kentucky women’s tennis team will no longer compete in the International Tennis Federation 25K Hilton Head as scheduled, rather they will take a week off prepare for the ITF 15K Florence in Florence, South Carolina, on Oct. 12-18.
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.
