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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The No. 38 Kentucky women’s tennis team earned the hard-fought doubles point on the road, but fell short in singles play, dropping a 5-2 decision to No. 13 Vanderbilt on Friday afternoon at the Lummis Tennis Center in Nashville.
The Wildcats (11-12, 4-10 SEC) came out strong in doubles action. The duo of junior Zoe Hammond and freshman Asuncion Jadue rolled to a 6-1 win on court two. Fifth-year Lizzy Stevens and senior Ellie Eades followed with a 6-3 win on court one to clinch the doubles point against Vanderbilt’s No. 14 duo of Celia-Belle Mohr and Sophia Webster. The match on court three was left unfinished at 4-4, as the Wildcats took the lead 1-0
In singles play, Kentucky faced a deep and experienced Vanderbilt lineup. The Commodores (16-5, 9-4 SEC) quickly evened the score with wins on courts two and three. Despite a solid effort from No. 40 Hammond, she fell to No. 17 Mohr 6-2, 6-4 on the top court. Vanderbilt extended its lead with a pair of straight-set wins against Stevens and sophomore Julia Zhu before Kentucky found a spark on court five.
Freshman Asuncion Jadue delivered the Wildcats’ lone singles victory of the day, defeating Trinetra Vijayakumar 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 for her sixth SEC win of the season. On court four, freshman Tess Bucher battled through three sets before falling 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Vanderbilt closed out the match on court six, where Ellie Myers pushed her opponent to a super tiebreak before ultimately falling 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (10-7).
Kentucky now turns its attention to postseason play and will prepare for Sunday’s matches against Missouri 11:30 a.m. ET and St. Louis at 7 p.m. ET.
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