Kentucky womens tennis was defeated by No. 3 Georgia 4-1 on Friday, falling to 6-5 on the season in the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center in Lexington, Kentucky.

Heading into the matchup Georgia was 2-0 in SEC play, having swept Kentucky last season in Athens 4-0.  

The Cats, despite the loss, were the first on the scoreboard after winning the doubles point that came from a come-from-behind effort.  

Finishing first on court two, Georgia’s Meg Kowalski and Mell Reasco took down Makayla Mills and Florencia Urrutia 6-3.  

Shortly after Kentucky evened the match with Carlota Molina and Elizabeth Stevens also winning with a score of 6-3.  

Clinching the doubles point for the Wildcats was Ellie Eades and Zoe Hammond on court three, with the pair beating Anastasiia Lopata and Dasha Vidmanova 6-2.

Moving into singles play the Cats lost momentum quickly with Molina falling on court four in straight sets to No. 64 Lopata.  

No. 52 Reasco then defeated Eades 6-3 to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead.

Stevens held her own for three sets against No. 12 Vidmanova, even after being in visible pain and limping between serves, but ultimately lost in the third set.

Urrutia battled it out with No. 10 Lea Ma and won the first set in a tiebreaker with the score at 7-6. Ma then took the second set 6-4 after being down 4-2 and needing a medical timeout. Ultimately, Urrutia lost the final set 6-1, giving the Bulldogs the win 4-1.

The loss brought Kentucky to 2-1 in SEC play in the 2023 season with the Cats now looking to rebound on Sunday, March 12, with a doubleheader against Tennessee at noon and Bellarmine at 4 p.m. EST.