Kentucky womens tennis rises above Cincinnati, falls to Marshall in doubleheader

Fiona+Arrese+celebrates+a+point+during+the+University+of+Kentucky+vs.+Tennessee+women%E2%80%99s+tennis+match+on+Sunday%2C+March+28%2C+2021%2C+at+Hillary+J.+Boone+Tennis+Center+in+Lexington%2C+Kentucky.+Photo+by+Michael+Clubb+%7C+Staff

Fiona Arrese celebrates a point during the University of Kentucky vs. Tennessee women’s tennis match on Sunday, March 28, 2021, at Hillary J. Boone Tennis Center in Lexington, Kentucky. Photo by Michael Clubb | Staff

Colton Johnson, Reporter

Kentucky womens tennis finished up its series of doubleheaders at home on Wednesday as it split matchups, defeating Cincinnati 6-1 and losing to Marshall 4-3.

The Wildcats began the day with an advantage as they won the first two doubles matchups. The third match went unfinished as Kentucky had already clinched the overall doubles point.

Kentucky stayed hot in singles play, sealing the victory in the first three matches with senior Florencia Urrutia, junior Makayla Mills and freshman Zoe Hammond all winning their matches in straight sets.

Junior Elizabeth Stevens lost a close match, winning the first set 6-1, but losing the next two sets 6-3 and 6-4 as the Bearcats would take its only point of the matchup.

Kentucky continued to rack up points against Cincinnati as sophomore Ellie Eades and Senior Maialen Morante both won their shortened matches 8-3 and 8-5, respectively.

With a 6-1 victory to start the day, Kentucky moved onto its second matchup against Marshall.

It looked as if the Wildcats were going to run the board as they took their fifth doubles point out of the last six matches with Urrutia and Mills not giving up a set winning 6-0, the pair didn’t lose a set on the day.

Starting with doubles, Morante and Stevens tallied up a 6-2 victory on court 3 as Kentucky won every doubles matchup and only gave up 5 sets across finished matches on the day.

Urrutia continued her domination winning in straight sets and scoring the first singles point of the matchup.

Kentucky would suffer their second singles loss of the day with Hammond losing in straight sets, but the Cats would talk back shortly after with Eades earning her second victory, this one in straight sets.

Things would start to go south for the Cats when Mills split the first two sets with identical scores of 6-2, following with a 7-5 loss in the third set.

The cold streak continued as Morante fought hard to split her first two sets, losing 6-1 and winning 6-4, ultimately losing the third set 6-3.

With the sixth match between sophomore Lidia Gonzalez and Marshall’s Andjela Lopicic being a Marshall victory by default, Marshall took home the victory winning 4-3.

Kentucky will have an extended break as they look to find a road game win when the team travels to University Park to take on the Nittany Lions of Penn State at the Sarni Tennis Center on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 10 a.m. EST.