Women’s Tennis Bounces Back, Defeats JMU 6-1 – UK Athletics

DURHAM, N.C. – After a tough loss on Friday night to No. 7 Duke, the Kentucky women’s tennis team (3-1) bounced back and took a 4-1 victory over JMU on Saturday morning in Durham. Strong singles play highlighted the match, with victories on all six courts to win the match outright.

The Wildcats had a slow start on doubles, where JMU took the lead 1-0. On court one, Marina Fuduric and Julia Zhu teamed up, but dropped a set 6-2. Over on court three, the senior duo of Zoe Hammond and Ellie Myers fought until the end, but came up short 6-4. Asuncion Jadue and Reese Sager were in a close, tied set when the doubles point went unfinished due to the JMU clinch.

After a slow start, Kentucky responded immediately with a huge performance in the singles portion. Every singles player won their respective matches, with Myers getting things started over Kantor 6-1, 6-3 to tie the match at 1-1. Zhu responded in similar fashion, taking down JMU’s Savejic 6-1, 6-3, giving the Wildcats their first lead of the day.

Over on court five, freshman Sager took a match from JMU’s Avidan 6-4, 6-4 to extend the Kentucky lead to 3-1. It was senior Hammond who picked up the clinching match on court one against Munteanu in a decisive 6-4, 6-3 match.

With close matches on courts three and four, the coaches agreed to play out each match to a 10 point tie-breaking set. Both matches were knotted at one set a piece for Jadue and freshman Elena Molla, and both Wildcats turned things around to end up sweeping the singles matches and ending the day with a 6-1 victory.

Kentucky (3-1) concludes their weekend in Durham going 1-1, which was the first of many road trips this season. With a strong bounce back win, the Wildcats will return to play next weekend on Feb. 8 at Purdue.

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Doubles Results:1. Hoffman/Williams (JMU) def. Fuduric/Zhu (UK), 6-22. Saveljic/Matko (JMU) vs. Jadue/Sager (UK) 5-5, unfinished3. Munteanu/Avidan (JMU) def. Hammond/Myers (UK), 6-4Order of finish: 1,3

Singles Results:1. Hammond (UK) def. Munteanu (JMU), 6-4, 6-32. Zhu (UK) def. Saveljic (JMU), 6-1, 6-33. Jadue (UK) vs. Hoffman (JMU), 7-5, 3-6, 10-64. Williams (JMU) vs. Molla (UK), 2-6, 6-3, 10-75. Sager (UK) def. Avidan (JMU), 6-4, 6-46. Myers (UK) def. Kantor (JMU), 6-1, 6-3Order of finish: 6, 2, 5, 1, 3, 4