Kentucky womens tennis suffers sixth SEC defeat, falls to Ohio State 4-2
Kentucky Wildcats freshman Zoe Hammond waits for her singles opponent to serve during the Kentucky vs. Alabama womens tennis match on Sunday, April 2, 2023, at Boone Tennis Complex in Lexington, Kentucky. Alabama won 4-1. Photo by Carter Skaggs | Staff
April 7, 2023
Kentucky womens tennis traveled to Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday where the team was unable to hold on to the early lead and fell to the No. 8 Buckeyes 4-2.
The loss came without No. 32 Florencia Urrutia on the court for Kentucky.
Kentucky would grab an early 1-0 lead after taking the doubles point, starting with Ellie Eades and Zoe Hammond winning quickly on court three 6-2.
Staying on Kentucky’s toes, Ohio State’s Danielle Wilson and Kolie Allen took down Makayla Mills and Lidia Gonzalez 6-3 on court two.
Claiming the doubles point for Kentucky was Lizzy Stevens and Carlota Molina who defeated the No. 19 doubles pair Irina Cantos Siemers and Sydni Ratliff 6-4.
It didn’t take long for the Buckeyes to make the match even at one, with No. 21 Cantos Siemers who took down Eades in straight sets 6-2.
Hammond lost a tightly contested match on court five, falling in a tiebreaker in set one 7-6 (7-1) and 6-4 in set two.
Making the score 3-1, Mills fell to Wilson 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, despite taking her to a tiebreak in set one.
Winning in three sets to give Kentucky its final point was Gonzalez, who defeated Allen after dropping the first set 7-6 (7-2), 6-1, 6-3.
Securing the win for OSU was No. 33 Ratliff who took the victory on court one in three sets after Stevens stole the first, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, 6-3.
Following the loss, Kentucky is now 12-10 on the season and 4-6 in SEC play, while moving to No. 49 in ITA rankings.
Kentucky will look to rejoin the win column on Saturday, April 9, in Nashville, Tennessee, to take on Vanderbilt at noon EST.
