Texas A&M Women’s Tennis Upsets No. 21 Kentucky to Earn Second Straight Top-25 Win

(Source: Texas A&M Athletics)
(Source: Texas A&M Athletics)

COLLEGE STATION – The Texas A&M women’s tennis team upset No. 21 Kentucky, 4-1, Sunday at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center at 11 a.m. (CT). The Aggies defeated their second straight top-25 opponent to improve to 16-3 on the year and 4-2 in the SEC, the Wildcats fell to 14-4 this spring and 4-3 in league matches.

“We had a lot of great fight and determination today, especially at the end of the match” Texas A&M women’s tennis head coach Mark Weaver said. “There were a couple matches that we were just outplayed in the first set and we were able to turn those around. We made some great adjustments and found out game. We showed a lot of grit on the courts today and that was what it was going to take against a team like Kentucky.”

The win was the second of the weekend for the Aggies over a Top-25 team, on Friday the Aggies stunned the college tennis world with a convincing, 4-2, win over No. 4 Vanderbilt. With the weekend sweep the Aggies improved to a tie for fourth in the SEC standings.

The Maroon & White opened the day capturing a highly contested doubles point. After dropping a 6-2 decision on court one, A&M’s Renee McBryde and Katy Townsend dispatched of Kentucky’s Lesedi Jacobs and Tiphanie Fiquet, 6-3, on court two. A&M’s Riley McQuaid and Lucia Quiterio earned a decisive 7-5 victory on court three over UK’s Anastaia Tkachenko and Diana Tkachenko to secure the doubles point.

“Winning the doubles point is always a great start and the point today came down to the wire,” Weaver added. “We came up with some clutch shots when we needed them. Any time you have a couple competitive teams of somewhat equal level that doubles point makes a big difference and we were fortunate to be able to pull that one out today.”

The Aggies and Wildcats split first sets in singles action, but A&M was able to secure a pair of straight set wins on courts one and six to take a 3-0 advantage. A&M’s Dorthea Faa-Hvidingearned a commanding 6-0, 6-3 win on court six over Anastasia Tkachenko followed by Townsend’s 6-3, 6-4 win on court one over No. 48 Justina Mikulskyte. With the win, Faa-Hviding improved to 10-1 in dual matches. The ranked win for Townsend was her second this weekend after earning the highest ranked win by a freshman in program history over No. 3 Fernanda Contreras of Vanderbilt on Friday night.

“Katya [Townsend] had another great performance, getting another straight set win over a ranked opponent,” Weaver said. “Well done by Dorthea [Faa-Hviding] on court six to help keep the momentum going for the Aggies.”

Kentucky earned their sole victory of the day as Jacobs edged out A&M’s Jayci Goldsmith, 6-3, 7-6(3), on court two.

A&M found the clincher on court three from Tatiana Makarova. After a difficult opening set that she dropped 6-0, Makarova put together an impressive 6-4 second set win over UK’s Akvile Parazinskaite. In the decisive third set, Makarova earned a break up 5-4 to secure the win and put the Aggies in the win column. The win was Makarova’s 10th dual victory of the year which doubles the number of dual victories she had last season as a freshman.

Following the match up against the Wildcats, the Aggies hit the road for a match at Missouri on Friday and at Arkansas on Sunday.

Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M women’s tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M women’s tennis team on Twitter or Instagram by following @AggieWTEN or on Facebook at Facebook.com/AggieWTEN.

Tennis Match Results
Kentucky WTN vs Texas A&M
3/17/2019 at College Station, TX
(George P Mitchell Tennis Center)

#29 Texas A&M 4, #21 Kentucky 1

Singles competition
1. Katya Townsend (TAMU) def. #48 Justina Mikulskyte (UKW) 6-3, 6-4
2. Lesedi Jacobs (UKW) def. #100 Jayci Goldsmith (TAMU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
3. Tatiana Makarova (TAMU) def. Akvile Parazinskaite (UKW) 0-6, 6-4, 6-4
4. Renee McBryde (TAMU) vs. Tiphanie Fiquet (UKW) 7-5, 2-6, 2-4, unfinished
5. Riley McQuaid (TAMU) vs. Diana Tkachenko (UKW) 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 3-0, unfinished
6. Dorthea Faa-Hviding (TAMU) def. Anastasia Tkachenko (UKW) 6-0, 6-3

Doubles competition
1. #55 Justina Mikulskyte/Akvile Parazinskaite (UKW) def. #31 Tatiana Makarova/Jayci Goldsmith (TAMU) 6-2
2. Renee McBryde/Katya Townsend (TAMU) def. #76 Lesedi Jacobs/Tiphanie Fiquet (UKW) 6-3
3. Riley McQuaid/Lucia Quiterio (TAMU) def. Anastasia Tkachenko/Diana Tkachenko (UKW) 7-5

Match Notes:
Kentucky WTN 14-3, 4-2; National ranking #21
Texas A&M 16-3, 4-2; National ranking #29
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (6,1,2,3)

Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics

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