Akvile Paražinskaite and Fiona Arrese Earn No. 1 Overall Seed
LEXINGTON, Ky. –Kentucky women’s tennis players Akvile Paražinskaite and Fiona Arrese will comprise the nation’s No. 1 overall seed in the 2021 NCAA Doubles Tournament May 23-28 at the UTSA National Campus in Orlando it was unveiled on Tuesday. Paražinskaite will also be among the singles field as an at-large selection to the 64-player bracket.
Paražinskaite and Arrese were the Southeastern Conference’s automatic qualifiers in the 32-team doubles tournament.
The duo is the first doubles tandem to earn a No. 1 overall seed entering the tournament under head coach Carlos Drada. The 2016 pair of Mami Adachi and Aldila Sutjiadi held the ITA No. 1 ranking but were seeded No. 2 for the tournament.
Amy Trefethen and Sarah Witten in 2003 made the deepest run of any doubles pair in program history when they finished as the national runner-up.
This marks the second appearance for Paražinskaite in the doubles draw. She paired with Justina Mikulskyte in 2019, but the duo dropped its opening-round match. Paražinskaite will make her debut in the singles draw in 2021. Arrese is also making the first appearance of her career in the event as a freshman.
All matches shall be the best-of-three sets. No-ad scoring and a 7-point tiebreaker (first to seven points, must win by two points) at six-games-all will be used for all matches. In doubles, a 10-point match tiebreaker will be played in lieu of a third set.
Paražinskaite and Arrese were named to the first team of the All-SEC Tennis Team last week. The honors were the first of their careers.
The duo has amassed a 20-2 overall record on the season, including a 17-2 mark in dual competition. Kentucky’s top-rated squad was 11-1 in SEC play and has helped UK win 19 of 24 doubles points thus far. The pair was also 6-2 against nationally ranked competition this spring.
In singles action, Paražinskaite leads the way for the Wildcats. The graduate student from Vilnius, Lithuania, has occupied the No. 1 slot for UK all season. Paražinskaite is 16-6 on the year in dual matches with a 5-5 record against ranked foes.
Notable victories include an upset of South Carolina’s No. 39 Nia Horvit by a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 margin. She swept Tennessee’s No. 56 Eleonora Molinaro 6-2, 6-4 in the upset of the 19th-ranked Volunteers. Paražinskaite also defeated Vanderbilt’s Christina Rosca 6-2, 7-5 when Rosca was rated No. 20 in the country. She also has logged wins over No. 62 Selin Ovunc (6-2, 6-4) of Ole Miss and No. 41 Taylor Bridges (4-6, 6-2, 6-2) of LSU.
Paražinskaite has ascended to No. 29 in the country with an overall record of 19-10 which includes fall action.
The Wildcats get the team portion of the NCAA Championships underway on Friday at 1 p.m. ET. UK will take on Syracuse in the opening round from Berkeley, California, in the Cal Regional. The winner will take on the winner of the San Jose State and Cal matchup on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.
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.
