Slumping women’s tennis hopes to refocus

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By Marcus Davis

The UK women’s tennis team started the season ranked 11th in the nation with a perfect record of 9-0. Since then they have posted a 2-5 record in the Southeastern Conference falling to No. 20 in the nation.

With a current record of 11-5, they have lost five competitions in the past three weeks.

“We’re playing a really tough conference schedule,” head coach Carlos Drada said. “The SEC has gotten a lot better. Some of the teams who we used to do a good job dominating have gotten better players.”

Drada said he has watched talent improve in the SEC over the years. The SEC currently has eight teams ranked in the top 25 in the nation. Drada said the grueling season wears on players after a while, as they get sick and tired.

“The main thing to remember is that we’re looking at the long term,” Drada said. “The most important part of the season is the postseason.”

Freshman Caroline Lilley was the Cats’ only winner in the singles matches during Sunday’s loss to Auburn. Lilley is 11-3 in singles this spring. Photo by Emily Coovert | Staff

In order to keep the players at a high level, Drada reminds his players of the nature of college tennis. He often tells his players they are playing not against the opponent as much as they are against themselves and what Drada calls the team’s “high standards.”

Recently, Drada said the Cats have not played to their standards. They’ve lost five of their last seven matches, including two blowout home losses to South Carolina on March 8 and to Auburn on March 29.

The most important thing that Drada tries to remind his team is that despite the rough patch recently, “they’re still a really good team.”

Sophomore Megan Broderick said Drada is keeping the team level-headed during the tough losses in conference play.

“I think that we’re a little bit down right now, but our coach is trying to keep our heads up and I think we’re trying to do the same for each other,” Broderick said. “We still have five more matches to go, and they’re all big opportunities.”

Those remaining five opponents may cause more problems for the Cats. UK plays No. 27 Mississippi this weekend, and still have ranked opponents such as No. 13 Tennessee, No. 2 Georgia and No. 19 Vanderbilt left on the slate. Broderick said in order to break the Cats’ losing streak, they need to recapture their fire from earlier in the season.

Broderick also said that the SEC is a tough conference to play in and in order to turn around the mid-season slump, the Cats need to put their minds to the task.

“(We should be) Doing the things that you want to do in matches on the practice court, then turning that over,” Broderick said. “You really have to have the mindset of winning.”