Racers Fall To Kentucky In 2025 Spring Opener

Saturday, January 18

Lexington, KY

Murray State

Kentucky

1/20/2025 5:07:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Results (PDF)

The Racers’ 57th season of collegiate women’s tennis is underway

The Murray State women's tennis team fell short in their season opener, 6-1, to the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday at the Boone Tennis Center in Lexington.

"We knew it was going to be a tough spring opener against an SEC opponent but I am very pleased with the way we competed today," head coach Jorge Caetano said. "We put a lot of emphasis on doubles this week and we looked very good for how early in the season it is."

Murray State's No. 1 doubles duo Yu Kikawa and Yuna Kadowaki lost their match, 6-2, against UK's No. 1 pairing. The pairing of Bruna Melato and Valeria Chaikovskaia had a very close match but ended up losing 7-5 which gave UK the doubles point.

The 101^st nationally ranked doubles pair of Paola Campigotto and Varya Alexeyeva picked up where they left off in the fall with a dominant 6-3 win. They are now 8-1 overall as a pair this season.

The Wildcats wasted no time in singles, dominating the top four matches with straight-set wins. Campigotto took her match to the third set super-tiebreaker, but fell short losing 10-4.
MSU's Yuna Kadowaki saved three match points in the second set to take the match to a super tiebreak where she pulled off another incredible comeback. After being down 6-3, she won seven consecutive points to take the win.

"In singles we struggled with the lack of rhythm and UK was just more solid," Caetano added. "We just need to continue to play matches and work on our decision making so we can compete better in singles."

The Racers return to action when they face Southeast Missouri in Paducah, Ky (Jan. 30).

For more information on the Murray State women's tennis program, visit GoRacers.com or follow @RacersWTennis on X and Instagram.

Kentucky (2-0) vs Murray State (0-1)
01/18/2025 at Lexington, KY -- Boone Tennis Center
Match Score: Kentucky 6, Murray State 1

DOUBLES DRAWS
1 Lizzy Stevens and Julia Zhu (UK) def. Yuna Kadowaki and Yu Kikawa (MSU) 6-2
2 Ellie Eades and Zoe Hammond (UK) def. Valeria Chaikovskaia and Bruna Melato (MSU) 7-5
3 Varya Alexeyeva and Paola Campigotto (MSU) def. Asuncion Jadue and Tess Bucher (UK) 6-3

SINGLES DRAWS
1 Zoe Hammond (UK) def. Valeria Chaikovskaia (MSU) 6-2 6-2
2 Julia Zhu (UK) def. Varya Alexeyeva (MSU) 6-0 6-0
3 Lizzy Stevens (UK) def. Bruna Melato (MSU) 6-2 6-2
4 Ellie Myers (UK) def. Yu Kikawa (MSU) 6-2 6-3
5 Yuna Kadowaki (MSU) def. Tess Bucher (UK) 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 10-6
6 Asuncion Jadue (UK) def. Paola Campigotto (MSU) 6-4 4-6 10-4

MATCH NOTES
Order of finish:
Singles -- 3 2 4 1 6 5 ; Doubles -- 1 3 2
Start Time: 3:10 PM
Duration: 3:55