Returning from the West Coast, UK women’s tennis traveled to Illinois and posted its second shutout of the season as they defeated the No. 53 ranked Illinois Fighting Illini.

The win moved the Cats to 4-1 and set Illinois back to 3-3. The win also notched UK’s second shut-out in three matches.

“We faced an enthusiastic crowd and a highly energetic Illinois team,” UK head coach Carlos Drada said.  “We played very professionally with a lot of enthusiasm and focus, and we were focused on the right things, the things that we were looking to execute during the whole week. It’s definitely a step in the right direction, and we look forward to the rest of the season.”

Doubles play began with the nation’s top duo, as No. 1 Mami Adachi and Aldila Sutjiadi (UK) downed Louise Kwong and Ines Vias (ILL), 6-4. The team would climb back to .500 on the season, evening their record at 2-2.

 In the second doubles match, Akvilė Paražinskaitė and Morgan Chumney (UK) defeated Jerricka Boone and Madie Baillon (ILL), 6-2. This match would secure the doubles point for the Cats and improve Paražinskaitė and Chumney to 3-1 on the season as a pair.

The third court saw Justine Mikulskytė and Nadia Ravita (UK) take on Alexis Casati and Daniela Pedraza Novak (ILL). The final score in their match would be 6-3, while also advancing Mikulskytė and Ravita to a perfect 5-0 start.

In singles play, only two sets were dropped and the other four would complete the win in two sets.

Mikulskytė (UK) began singles play on the first court by facing Kwong (ILL). Kwong would be handed a 7-5, 6-3 loss. Mikulskytė’s record stayed perfect as her record moved to 5-0 on the season.

On the second court, No. 97 Sutjiadi (UK) defeated Casati (ILL), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. Sutjiadi advanced to 4-1 on the season with the lone loss coming against No. 17 ranked Ronit Yurovsky of Michigan. 

Ravita (UK) picked up her first win against a ranked opponent this season, knocking off No. 114 Boone (ILL), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

On the fourth court, Paražinskaitė (UK) picked up the win against Vias (ILL), 6-2, 7-5. Paražinskaitė stayed perfect on the season, moving to 4-0 in singles play.

The fifth match would be the quickest, as No. 100 Adachi (UK) quickly dealt the loss to Novak (ILL), 6-3, 6-3.

The sixth and final match would slate Kirsten Lewis (UK) against Baillon (ILL), 7-5, 6-3. Like Paražinskaitė and Mikulskytė, her record remains spotless as she recorded her fourth victory on the season.

“I think our team is the one who can fight and leave everything on the court, so we did that today. We fought really hard with everything we could,” Mikulskytė said after the match.

UK returns to the road as it will first face No. 43 Princeton at 2 p.m. on Friday then will remain in the north to face No. 58 Columbia on Sunday at 11 a.m.