UK women’s tennis moved to 3-1 as the Cats beat NC State (0-2) in the consolation game Saturday after dropping their first match of the season as well as the ITA Kick-off to Northwestern.

The Cats were off to a slow start as NC State won the doubles point, taking an early 0-1 match lead. UK seniors Emily Fanning and Mami Adachi, were the only duo to win their match as they won their match against NC State’s #9 ranked duo of Anna Rodgers and Claudia Wiktorin 6-3 in the first and only set.

“Mami and I played great together so I felt pretty positive going into my singles,” Fanning said. “We did drop the doubles point even though we won, so it definitely made me want to get that singles point even more.”

In singles play, Fanning won her match 6-2, 6-1 to tie the day’s score at 1-1. Adachi (6-2, 6-3) would finish second behind her doubles partner to give UK the 2-1 lead over the Wolfpack of NC State.

Sophomore Lesedi Jacobs won a singles match versus #61 Claudia Wiktorin, 6-3, 7-5, to give UK the 3-1 lead. Junior Justina Mikulskyte clinched match point for the Cats winning her match 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-2.

“It was remarkable,” said head coach Carlos Drada on his team’s performance. “All these teams that we play are some of the best teams in the nation. [The team] came back and took some ownership. Our leaders stepped up and really took to heart that they needed to do better and they came out with a lot of energy.”

For NC State, Adriana Reami/Amanda Rebol and Bianca Moldovan/Helene Grimm would give NC State the doubles point as they would both win their sets 3-6 and 4-6. Bianca Moldovan would win the teams only singles point of the game 0-6, 3-6.

No. 21 UK won the match over NC State 4-2. Next up for the Cats is Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, on Feb. 1st at 4 p.m.