By Catherine Laroche

The University of Louisville women’s tennis team was hoping to pull upsets this week against No. 21 ranked Kentucky and No. 68 Auburn, but fell short 6-1 to Kentucky on Tuesday night and 5-2 to Auburn on Friday.

“I think we were a little flat against Kentucky” said Greg Davis, tennis head coach, “But I thought against Auburn we played very well. We just came up against a team like Auburn that’s very much improved. We played extremely hard. We had opportunities to win the match. It’s just that being best isn’t good enough and they played a better match than us that day.”

With the injury cloud hovering over the Cardinals again, Louisville (3-8) was short-handed and down 1-0 to start the match having to default at No. 6 singles. As sophomore Bianca Gorbea and freshman Jo-Ann Van Aerde won 8-2 at No. 2, after battling for the doubles point over UK’s Sarah Woestmann and Whitney Spencer. However, junior Robyn White and senior Natalie Laszkowski could not hold on at the top spot, falling 8-5 to Kim Coventry and Joelle Schwenk.

Scoring the Cards only point, Gorbea accomplished a 6-2, 3-6, 10-7 win over Jessica Giuggioli at No. 4. After dropping her first set 6-2 at No. 1 to Coventry, Laszkowski was hoping for a comeback before Coventry edged a 7-6 win in the second.

White and sophomore Natalia Baez came up short in their singles matches as well, White fell 6-1, 6-0 to No. 2 Schwenk. It was a close battle between Baez and Whitney Spencer in the first set before Baez lost 7-5, but Spencer cruised 6-1 in the second for the victory.

“It (the atmosphere) was very intense,” Laszowski said. “They’re obviously a strong and competitive team, so everybody came out hungry and ready to play. They just edged it over us. I think the matches were a lot closer than what the scores show. But everybody gave their best.”

When the Tigers prowled into Bass-Rudd Tennis Center, they were looking for revenge after the Cards defeated the Tigers 5-2 last year at Auburn. The Tigers did just that, winning the match.

“We knew they were ready to play this year,” Laszkowski said.

In doubles, the No. 3 pair of Baez and Laszkowski won 8-3 over Kelly Adams and Jil Hastenrath. Gorbea and freshman Jo-Ann Van Aerde were stunned 8-4 by Fani Chifchieva and Whitney Chappell. Recovered and back at full strength, freshman Lauren Imre paired up with White, but fell short 9-8 to Melissa Koning and Alex Haney.

“Obviously, it (having Imre back) helped us,” Laszkowski said. “It gave us a little boast of confidence in having a shot at finally winning the doubles point because we did have all three teams. Everyone did very good, especially Lauren for not having practiced at all.”

Scoring their only two points in singles, both in three sets, Gorbea won her first set 6-3 and then dropped the second set 6-3 to Hastenrath. She then straightened up and focused, winning her third set 6-2. After losing her first set 6-3, Baez made a comeback and won 6-3 and 6-4 over No. 6 Adams.

Van Aerde and White also couldn’t hold off the Tigers as they fell short, too. Van Aerde won the first 6-3, but lost 6-3 and 10-5. White also won her first, with a 6-4 victory, but dropped her second and third, 6-0 and 6-4.

Imre’s “welcome back” match wasn’t what she hoped for as she fell 6-0, 6-2 to Chifchieva. Laszkowski lost 6-4, 6-0 to Koning at No. 2.

“I think we could have done better, honestly,” Laszkowski said. “I think we’re all a bit disappointed because we’ve had a few losses these past few matches we’ve played. But everyone’s just trying to stay positive. We know that everyone’s tired physically and mentally because of our tough schedule. So we’re trying to hang in there and stay positive.”