Three Wildcats Go Unbeaten in Second Annual Kentucky Invite
NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. – Ninety-one matches later, the University of Kentucky women’s tennis team closed out the second annual Kentucky Invite on Sunday afternoon, hosted at Top Seed Tennis Club in Nicholasville, Kentucky, Nov. 1-3.
The Wildcats collected 17 of 24 wins in the tournament, while playing just a six-person lineup throughout the weekend as sophomore Alexis Merrill recovers from injury and veterans Akvile Paražinskaite and Lesedi Jacobs prepare for the International Tennis Federation Fall Nationals.
The Kentucky Invite featured seven programs, including DePaul, Kentucky, Miami (Ohio), Penn State, Utah, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.
Since the tournament was played in a round-robin, hidden-dual format, there was not an opportunity to win a championship title. Rather, each player had the same opportunity to compete in an equal amount of singles and doubles matches – up to three each.
Three Wildcats didn’t drop a match throughout the weekend – freshman Carlota Molina, sophomore Carla Girbau and senior Anastasia Tkachenko.
Leading the threesome, Tkachenko won three singles matches and three doubles matches, facing and defeating all but one team in the tournament – Miami (Ohio), Penn State and Virginia Tech in singles and DePaul, Utah and Virginia Tech in doubles.
Girbau, a Miami (Fla.) transfer, carded one singles win and two doubles wins, despite coming off a wrist injury this week. The Spain native defeated Miami’s (Ohio) Priyana Kalita in singles, while also beating her Utah and Virginia Tech opponents in doubles.
Molina recorded three doubles wins over DePaul, Utah and Virginia Tech, while also grabbing a pair of singles wins over her Penn State and Virginia Tech opponents. The tournament marked her third in her collegiate career, and it came just one month after winning the singles title in her collegiate debut at the Wildcat Invite in Evanston, Illinois.
Freshman Maialen Morante made her collegiate debut this weekend after sustaining an ankle injury before the start of the fall season. Settling into the competitive collegiate atmosphere during the weekend, Morante recorded her first singles win in a spirited three-hour match on Sunday afternoon.
The Spaniard defeated Miami’s (Ohio) Kalita in a 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-2 decision, the 91st and last match of the tournament. Morante also notched her first collegiate doubles win that morning, recording an 8-1 mark over West Virginia’s No. 1 pair in Anne-Sophie Courteau and Sofia Duran.
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 do not attach to their regular-season records.
The full results are available here.
Next on the Schedule
Paražinskaite and Jacobs will compete in doubles at the ITA National Fall Championships in Newport Beach, California, Nov. 7-12. The UK pair qualified into the prestigious tournament after winning the Ohio Valley Regional Doubles Championship in September.
The draw of 32 will feature 12 ITA regional champions, four ITA All-American semifinalists, two ITA All-American consolation finalists, 10 at-large selections, one ITA cup champion, one Oracle wild card and two ITA wild cards.
While Jacobs was one of 21 athletes to receive and at-large big into the singles bracket draw of 64, Paražinskaite is on the waiting list.
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.
