Akvile Paražinskaite, Fiona Arrese Earn All-America Honors
TEMPE, Ariz. – Following an historic season, Kentucky women’s tennis players Akvile Paražinskaite and Fiona Arrese were named All-Americans as announced by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) on Monday.
The All-America status is given to doubles teams that earn a top-eight seed in the NCAA Championship, reach the NCAA Championship quarterfinals, or finish in the top 10 of the final ITA doubles rankings.
Paražinskaite and Arrese were awarded the accolade after earning the No. 1 seed in the doubles draw. They were the Southeastern Conference’s automatic qualifiers in the 32-team doubles tournament held at the UTSA National Campus in Orlando May 23-28.
They were the first Wildcats to be ranked No. 1 since Mami Adachi and Aldila Sutjiadi in 2016 and the first under head coach Carlos Drada to earn the No. 1 overall seed in the doubles draw.
Their season came to an end in Orlando when they fell to UCLA 6-3, 6-2 in the round of 16. The duo amassed a 21-5 overall record on the season, including a 7-4 mark against ranked foes, and were 11-1 in SEC play.
Paražinskaite and Arrese were also named to the first team of the All-SEC Team, marking the first time UK has had two players selected in the same season since 1987.
A two-time UK graduate from Vilnius, Lithuania, Paražinskaite led the way for the Wildcats in singles action and held the No. 1 spot for UK all season. She made her first-ever NCAA appearance in the singles field, falling in the first round. It was her second appearance in the doubles draw after pairing with Justina Mikulskyte in 2019.
Arrese was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team during her first season with the Wildcats. The Barcelona, Spain, native was the first UK freshman to earn the distinction since 2016 and is just the sixth freshman all-time from Kentucky to be honored.
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.
