No. 18 Lady Vols Finish Regular Season With Win Over No. 24 Kentucky, 4-1

Sunday, April 14

Knoxville, Tenn.

1:00 PM

University of Tennessee

Kentucky

KNOXVILLE, TN - 2019.02.10 - Tennessee vs. Old Dominion

No. 18 Lady Vols Finish Regular Season With Win Over No. 24 Kentucky, 4-1

April 14, 2019 | Women's Tennis

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The 18^th-ranked Tennessee women's tennis team closed out the regular season with a top-25 SEC win, taking down No. 24 Kentucky on Sunday afternoon at Goodfriend Tennis Center, 4-1.

Tennessee finishes the regular season with a 19-6 (9-4 SEC) record and in fourth-place in the SEC. The Lady Vols' 19 regular season wins mark the most since 2003, when UT also had 19 regular season victories.

"We came out in singles and knew that in singles we had a chance to win on all six courts," Tennessee head coach Alison Ojeda said. "So the goal was less winning and more let's pay attention to our execution and things that we can control. And that's what these guys did. They did an unbelievable job today."

Tennessee's fourth-place regular season SEC finish is its highest since 2013.

Kaitlin Staines registered the Lady Vols' first singles win of the match, defeating Lesedi Jacobs on Court 2 to tie the score at 1-1 after Kentucky won the doubles point. Staines won the match in two sets, 6-4, 6-3.

On her Senior Day, Sadie Hammond came up big for the Lady Vols on Court 1. The Belgrade, Maine native, ranked No. 72 in the nation in singles, narrowly defeated No. 15 Justina Mikuskyte in a first-set tiebreaker and then cruised to a second set victory, 7-6 (6), 6-2.

The win is Hammond's fourth ranked win of the season and the highest ranked player she has defeated while at Tennessee.

On Court 6, Tenika McGiffin pushed the UT lead to 3-1 with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Anastasia Tkachenko.

Junior Johanna Silva clinched the match for the Lady Vols on Court 3 in three sets. Silva dropped the first set against Tiphanie Fiquet, 4-6, but rebounded to take sets two and three 6-2 and 6-1, respectively.

Silva is 5-1 in three set matches this season, including 4-0 after she drops the first set.

In doubles, Tennessee dropped two closely contested to surrender the doubles point.

Court 3 finished first, as Silva and Rebeka Mertena defeated Diana Tkachenko and Alexis Merrill, 6-3. Silva and Mertena have now won eight of their past nine doubles matches.

On Court 1, Hammond and Staines battled back and forth with the 17^th-ranked doubles team of Justina Mikuskyte and Akvile Parazinskaite, but fell by a 6-4 final.

Maia Haumuller and McGiffin also dropped a closely contested match on Court 2, falling to Lesedi Jacobs and Anastasia Tkachenko, 6-4.

HOME SWEET HOME: The Lady Vols conclude the regular season with a 14-3 home record, the most home wins by a Tennessee team since the 1992 season.

"The atmosphere was unbelievable," Ojeda said of the crowd during the regular season finale against Kentucky. "I'm pretty sure half of Maine was down here with Sadie's family.

"There were a ton of fans and that makes a big difference. This team feeds off of energy, they provide it as well, but they feed off of it too."

UP NEXT: The Lady Vols head to College Station, Texas for the 2019 SEC Women's Tennis Tournament. The remaining seedings and match times will be announced Sunday evening.

RESULTS
No. 18 Tennessee 4, No. 24 Kentucky 1

Singles
1️. #72 Sadie Hammond (UT) def. #15 Justina Mikuskyte (UK) 7-6 (6), 6-2
2. Kaitlin Staines (UT) def. Lesedi Jacobs (UK), 6-4, 6-3
3️. Johanna Silva (UT) def. Tiphanie Fiquet (UK), 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
4️. Rebeka Mertena (UT) vs. Akvile Parazinskaite (UK), 6-7 (4), 6-4, 1-3, unfinished
5️. Ariadna Riley (UT) vs. Diana Tkachenko (UK), 2-6, 6-3, 4-4, unfinished
6️. Tenika McGiffin (UT) def. Anastasia Tkachenko (UK), 6-4, 7-5

Doubles
1️. #17 Mikuskyte/Parazinskaite (UK) def. #11 Hammond/Staines (UT), 6-4
2️. Jacobs/A. Tkachenko (UK) def. Haumuller/McGiffin (UT), 6-4
3️. Mertena/Silva (UT) def. D. Tkachenko/Merrill (UK), 6-3

Order of finish: Doubles (3, 1, 2); Singles (2, 1, 6, 3)