Over St. Patrick’s Day weekend, Kentucky women’s tennis split matches over Mississippi schools, with a 4-2 over Mississippi St and a 4-0 loss to Ole Miss.
The 4-2 victory over the Bulldogs was the Wildcats’ first conference win of the season and the first in the Shelley Jaudon era.
Friday’s win over Mississippi State began with a Wildcats doubles point featuring new double looks for Kentucky.
Makayla Mills and Lizzy Stevens were first to finish with their 6-3 win on court one.
For the first time this season Ellie Eades and Zoe Hammond teamed up to clinch the doubles point on court two with a tight 7-6 (8-6) tiebreaker win.
Up 1-0, the momentum carried over to singles play for Kentucky as Eades took a 6-2, 6-4 win over Athina Pitta.
Hammond then put the Cats within one point of their first SEC win with a 6-3, 6-4 straight set victory. Hammond is now 9-4 in singles play on the season.
The Bulldogs kept in the match as Lidia Gonzalez fell 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-3 on court two while Stevens also lost a three-set match 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-2, to make the score 3-2.
Freshman Julia Zhu clinched the match for Kentucky on court five with a 6-2, 6-2 win, giving the Cats their first conference win.
After the thrilling win over Mississippi State, Kentucky fell to Ole Miss 4-0 to split the Mississippi battles.
The first outdoor match of the season in Lexington, Kentucky, started with a quick 4-0 sweep for the Rebels.
For doubles play, the Kentucky duo of Stevens and Mills fell to Briana Crowley and Ava Hrastar, 6-0.
On court two, the doubles point was almost clinched by Eades and Hammond, but they fell in a tiebreaker 6-3 (7-7).
In singles play, Gonzalez was the first to finish and dropped the point 1-6, 0-6. After leading 2-0, the Rebels got a scoring chance as Stevens fought her way to a 2-6, 3-6 loss in straight sets.
Ole Miss finished the day after Anaëlle Leclercq-Ficher defeated Eades 6-2, 6-4 for the victory.
The Cats will travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to play against the LSU Tigers on Friday, March 22, at 6 p.m. EST and look for their second SEC win of the season.
