The Wildcats Play Host to Alabama, Auburn this Weekend
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky women’s tennis team returns home this weekend, playing host to Alabama on Friday, March 6 at 4 p.m. ET and Auburn on Sunday, March 8 at noon. Hosted inside the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center, admission is free and fans are encouraged to attend.
The Wildcats are 8-5 overall, including a 5-0 mark at home and 1-1 mark in the Southeastern Conference. Kentucky will feature a new doubles and singles lineup this weekend, as freshman Maialen Morante makes her season debut.
Free pizza will be available to fans, while supplies last. Free parking options include the three small E-lots adjacent to the facility one hour prior to first serve. Spectators may also pay to park in the Sports Center Garage (PS No. 7) on the corner of Complex Drive and Sport Center Drive. The cost of parking is $2 per hour, with a $16 per exit maximum.
In the doubles competition, UK will sport regular’s Akvile Paražinskaite and Carla Girbau on the first court, Lesedi Jacobs and Anastasia Tkachenko will move up one spot to the second court and Carlota Molina and Maialen Morante will make their doubles debut on the third court.
It’ll mark the first time Molina and Morante will compete together, a promising freshmen duo from Spain. Morante competed just once in the fall, sitting out the rest of last fall and the start of the season with an ankle injury.
The singles lineup also got rearranged, as Jacobs will fill the No. 1 slot for the first time this season. Paražinskaite will take the second court, Girbau will move up to the third court, Molina will file in on the fourth court, A. Tkachenko will move up to the fifth court and D. Tkachenko falls back to the sixth court.
The Wildcats lead the all-time series between Alabama and Kentucky, 28-15. The Crimson Tide are 12-4 this season, dropping to both Florida and South Carolina to begin conference action. The visiting team has one ranked doubles team, as Moka Ito and Isabella Harvison are tabbed as the 49th-best doubles team in the nation, owning an 8-1 record this season.
Kentucky also leads its series with Auburn, 26-13. The Tigers are 7-5 this season, also owning a 0-2 record in league action after falling to South Carolina and Florida in the opening weekend. Before traveling to Lexington, they’ll stop in Nashville to compete against No. 17 Vanderbilt on Friday afternoon.
The Tigers have this week’s SEC Freshman of the Week, Selin Ovunc. The rookie went 2-0 in singles and 1-1- in doubles last weekend, with all three victories coming against ranked opponents. Paired with teammate Taylor Russo, the duo makeup the 14th-ranked doubles team in the nation, boasting a 6-2 record in dual matches.
Competing as singles, Ovunc is the 64th-best singles player in the nation, and Russo is listed 83rd.
Live scoring can be found here.
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.
