Kentucky Falls to No. 3 Auburn – UK Athletics

AUBURN, Ala. – The Kentucky women’s tennis team (8-8, 0-7 SEC) fell to No. 3 Auburn (23-1, 7-0 SEC), on the road this afternoon, 4-0. Freshman Reese Sager highlighted play for the Wildcats in singles, taking set one and leading doubles alongside Asuncion Jadue.

Starting off doubles, the court three freshmen duo of Donna Le Roux and Elena Molla fell behind early. Ultimately falling 6-0, it left courts one and two to decide the doubles point. Freshman Sager and sophomore Jadue led on court two 4-3, but the point had been clinched by Auburn’s No. 14 DJ Bennett and Ava Esposito on court one defeating Zoe Hammond and Julia Zhu 6-1.

Trailing 1-0, the Wildcats saw a spark provided by Sager on court three when she took the first set over Auburn’s Refaat 6-2. Another freshman in Donna Le Roux battled on court six, dropping a close first set 7-5.

On court one, Hammond played the Tiger’s No. 33 DJ Bennett, where the Tigers took a 2-0 lead thanks to Bennett’s 6-2, 6-3 singles win. On court two, Julia Zhu dropped a match to No. 50 Ekaterina Khairutdinova 6-1, 6-4, growing Auburn’s lead to 3-0.

The Tigers clinched the match on court six, where freshman Donna Le Roux fell to No. 72 Niki Daubnerova 7-5, 6-4.

The Wildcats will head back to Lexington for a match against the Texas Longhorns on Friday at 12 p.m. ET at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex before heading to Texas A&M later in the weekend.

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Doubles Results:

No. 14 DJ Bennett/Ava Esposito (AUB) def. Zoe Hammond/Julia Zhu (UK) 6-1
Asuncion Jadue/Reese Sager (UK) vs. Stefani Webb/Angella Okutoyi (AUB) 4-3, unfinished
No. 83 Ekaterina Khairutdinova (AUB) def. Donna Le Roux/Elena Molla (UK) 6-0

Order of finish: 3, 1

Singles Results:

No. 33 DJ Bennett (AUB) def. No. 116 Zoe Hammond (UK) 6-2, 6-3
No. 50 Ekaterina Khairutdinova (AUB) def. No. 112 Julia Zhu (UK) 6-1, 6-4
Reese Sager (UK) vs. Merna Refaat (AUB) 6-2, 2-6, 4-5
Elena Molla (UK) vs. Stefani Webb (AUB) 3-6, 5-5
Asuncion Jadue (UK) vs. No. 31 Ava Esposito (AUB) 4-6, 6-6
No. 72 Niki Daubnerova (AUB) def. Donna Le Roux (UK) 7-5, 6-4

Order of finish: 1, 2, 6