Kentucky women’s tennis out of NCAAs after second-round loss at Michigan

In a rematch of last season’s NCAA Tournament second-round bout between the two programs, the No. 17 Kentucky women’s tennis team once again saw its season come to an end. The Cats lost 4-2 to No. 10 Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Kentucky finished the 2017 campaign with a 17-9 overall record, while the Wolverines advanced to the round of 16 with a 23-5 mark.

“We lost a close match against a tough Michigan team,” Coach Carlos Drada commented. “It was great to see our seniors finish on a high note in their last college match. It want to thank everyone involved for their contributions to this special season.”

It was a high-intensity match from the start as all three doubles matches went down to the wire. Kentucky’s No. 2 team of senior Morgan Chumney and Akvilė Parazinskaitė was the first to pick up a victory, rallying from an early 5-2 deficit to win five straight games and take the match. On court three, sophomore Justina Mikulskytė and junior Emily Fanning also won 7-5 to earn the point. UK’s sixth-ranked duo of senior Aldila Sutjiadi and Mami Adachi led 6-5 on court one when the point was clinched.

In singles, it was an uphill battle as the Cats dropped four of the first six sets in the match. The Wolverines quickly capitalized in three of those and won three consecutive matches in straight sets and pull away.

Chumney made a huge push at No. 6 singles to overtake Michigan’s Valeria Patiuk, 7-6 (5), 6-3 and bring the Cats back within one, but ultimately, the host team clinched the match on court three as Adachi fell in a second-set tiebreak.

In No. 1 singles, 22nd-ranked Sutjiadi and No. 26 Kate Fahey were knotted at 2-2 in the third set as play ceased.

The season isn’t quite over for Adachi and Sutjiadi. They will head to Athens, Ga., to compete in the NCAA singles and doubles competition on May 24-29. The pair will enter the tournament as the overall No. 3 seed in the 32-team doubles field, while Sutjiadi will also play in the singles as an at-large selection.

No. 10 Michigan 4, No. 17 Kentucky 2

At Ann Arbor, Mich.

Singles (Order of finish: 5-4-2-6-3)

1 – #26 Kate Fahey (UM) vs. #22 Aldila Sutjiadi (UK), 4-6, 6-1, 2-2, unf.

2 – #24 Brienne Minor (U-M) def. #103 Akvilė Parazinskaitė (UK), 7-5, 6-4

3 – Alex Najarian (UM) def. Mami Adachi (UK), 6-4, 7-6 (3)

4 – Chiara Lommer (UM) def. Emily Fanning (UK), 6-0, 6-4

5 – Mira Ruder-Hook (UM) def. Justina Mikulskytė (UK), 6-2, 6-1

6 – Morgan Chumney (UK) def. Valeria Patiuk (UM), 7-6 (5), 6-3

Doubles (Order of finish: 2-3)

1 – #9 Alex Najarian/Kate Fahey (U-M) vs. #6 Aldila Sutjiadi/Mami Adachi (UK), 5-6, unf.

2 – Morgan Chumney/Akvilė Parazinskaitė (UK) def. Brienne Minor/Chiara Lommer (UM), 7-5

3 – Justina Mikulskytė/Emily Fanning (UK) def. Mira Ruder-Hook/Valeria Patiuk (UM), 7-5

This story was originally published May 13, 2017 at 5:16 PM with the headline "Kentucky women’s tennis out of NCAAs after second-round loss at Michigan."