Tide's Bentley Eliminated at NCAA Championships
5/24/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
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Athens, Ga. – Alabama junior Ashley Bentley lost Tuesday morning to SEC Player of the Year and fourth seeded Aibika Kalsarieva 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the NCAA Singles Championships.
Kalsarieva, who finished with a perfect 11-0 SEC mark this season at Kentucky, won the match’s final three games to claim the match in straight sets.
It was an uphill battle all morning for Bentley. Kalsarieva broke Bentley’s serve midway through the first set and used that to jump out to a 5-3 lead. She was then able to close out the set on serve and carried that momentum over to the second set where she won the first three games. Bentley fought back however, to even the second set at three all but it wasn’t quite enough to turn the match in her favor.
Despite the loss, Bentley finishes off one of the most successful single-season campaigns in Alabama history with a 26-10 record. Monday’s win made her just the fourth Crimson Tide athlete to advance to the NCAA’s second round. Bentley’s 26 wins are a personal high and rank 12th on Alabama’s single-season wins list and her .722 winning percentage ranks ninth in school history.
Over the last three seasons Bentley has compiled 66 career victories and will begin the 2005-06 season next September just 22 wins shy of the school’s all-time wins record.
