Women’s Tennis Falls at Princeton, 4-3
PRINCETON, N.J. – Kentucky Women’s Tennis (4-3) dropped its third-straight road contest, falling 4- 3 to Princeton (4-1) at the Lenz Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon.
Play against the Tigers began with doubles where the Wildcats clinched the first point of the day. Court 3 was the first to finish as the tandem of Lizzy Stevens and Ellie Myers swept Princeton’s freshmen pairing of Madeleine Jessup and Alice Ferlito, 6-2. Meanwhile on Court 2, Zoe Hammond and Makayla Mills teamed up to secure the doubles point defeating Eva Elbaz and Leena Bennetto, 6-3. The Court 1 matchup of Lizzy Stevens and Ellie Eades versus Maia Sung and Bella Chhiv was left unfinished with Princeton up 5-4.
The Wildcats entered singles action with a 1-Nil advantage, but after 50 minutes of play, Princeton tied the match as Myers met her demise to Ferlito, 0-6, 0-6. Shortly after, the Tigers earned another point from the completion of play on Court 1 where Stevens fell 4-6, 4-6 to Neha Velaga. Down by one, the Cats continued to fight as freshman Julia Zhu won her match against Chhiv, 6-1, 6-3, to equalize the overall score, 2-2.
Nearly an hour later, Hammond completed her day falling to Jessup to edge Princeton up 3-2. The Edmond, Okla. native won the first set 6-2, but fell in the following two, 5-7. Approximately 10 minutes later, the Tigers clinched the match on Court 2 to claim the win. Eades fell to Sung in similar fashion to Hammond as she won the first set 7-6 but was overcome in sets two and three, 3-6, 1-6. Gonzalez, on Court 3, played out her match which earned Kentucky its third point of the day. She defeated Bennetto 7-5, 1-6, 7(8)-6(6).
The Cats will return home to the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center this Friday for an 11 a.m. EST matchup against Wichita State.
RESULTS
Kentucky vs. Princeton
UK 3, PRIN 4
Doubles
No. 25 Eades/Gonzalez (UK) vs. Sung/Chhiv (PRIN) 4-5 uf
Mills/Hammond (UK) def. Bennetto/Elbaz (PRIN) 6-3
Stevens/Myers (UK) def. Ferlito/Jessup (PRIN) 6-2
Singles
Velgaga (PRIN) def. Stevens (UK) 6-4, 6-4
Sung (PRIN) def. Eades (UK) 6-7, 6-3, 6-1
Gonzalez (UK) def. Bennetto (PRIN) 7-5, 1-6, 7(8)-6(6)
Jessup (PRIN) def. Hammond (UK) 2-6, 7-5, 7-5
Zhu (UK) def. Chhiv (PRIN) 6-1, 6-3
Ferlito (PRIN) def. Myers (UK) 6-0, 6-0
Order of Finish:
Doubles— 3, 2, 1
Singles— 6, 1, 5, 4, 2, 3
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