Kentucky women’s tennis (3-1) split a weekend trip to Durham, N.C., falling to No. 7 Duke (5-0) 4-2 and defeating James Madison (1-4) 6-1 on Jan. 31.
The Lady Wildcats’ road trip brought a hard-fought battle to a strong Duke team, proving to other teams that Kentucky isn’t here to mess around this season.
Their victory over JMU, however, was nothing short of what they have already proved this season, being a dominant group and settling that for all of college tennis to see.
They started strong versus Duke with a doubles victory, but were swept in two quick, straight-set sweeps by the Blue Devils’ strongest players, Shavit Kimchi and Irina Balus.
Freshman Elena Molla contributed big for the Wildcats, sweeping her respective match, tying it at 2-2, but the team ended up unsuccessful throughout the rest of the match.
Despite the 4-2 loss, sophomore Asuncion Jadue went 1-1 in her sets, dominating the first set 6-1 and then falling 7-5 in a tough battle, with the third set eventually going unfinished.
The Wildcats had a quick turnaround the next morning for an 11 a.m. start time against JMU, defeating them soundly and sending the Wildcats home with a victory.
The two seniors, Ellie Myers and Zoe Hammond, got it rolling early with two quick sweeps after the doubles victory.
Two more quick wins right after gave the Wildcats a commanding 5-0 lead, almost solidifying the victory in their hands.
Jadue continued her early success this season, going 2-1 in her sets against JMU’s Brooklyn Hoffman, including wins of 7-5 and 10-6.
She proved herself throughout the first four matches of the season so far, from a dominating sweep against Eastern Kentucky.
Jadue then repeated the same the next week against Miami (Ohio), sweeping her set and contributing to total domination from the Wildcats as they soundly won 7-0.
She brought a young presence in the early parts of the season after coming off a struggling freshman fall season, going 3-8 in singles matches in the fall.
However, a quick turnaround and positive improvements showed visibly on the court, as she went 8-6 in the spring with 11 matches going unfinished.
Her mentality and much-improved skill levels showed massive improvement in her stat lines from her freshman year and a quick contribution to the Lady Wildcats already this year.
A team run by a majority of underclassmen, freshmen and sophomores, Jadue’s presence and work ethic had Kentucky fans excited about more success this spring.
Overall, Kentucky tennis fans got a firm look at what the rest of the season has to offer after a dominant 3-1 start and keeping it close to undefeated No. 7 Duke.
The Wildcats will be back in action at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8, taking on the Purdue Boilermakers in West Lafayette, Ind.
