No. 5 Kentucky Continues SEC Play On The Road
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Over halfway through Southeastern Conference play, the No. 5 Kentucky men’s tennis team (16-2, 7-0 SEC) will look to extend its seven-match conference win streak and remain undefeated in the Southeastern Conference against a pair of opponents on the road this weekend. The Wildcats will be squaring off against the No. 49 Arkansas Razorbacks (14-8, 1-5 SEC) on Friday, March 29 at 6:30 p.m. ET before facing No. 56 Ole Miss (9-9, 2-5 SEC) on Sunday, March 31 at 2 p.m. ET.
Kentucky is coming off back-to-back SEC wins this weekend against two top-25 teams. The rookie, Jack Loutit paired with veteran Taha Baadi led the Wildcats in doubles. In the first doubles session, Loutit and Baadi defeated TAMU’s Kenner Taylor and Tiago Pires 6-3 at third doubles to put the Cats within one of claiming the doubles point. On Sunday, Loutit and Baadi were once again the first to claim victory, winning 7-5 against the No. 21 Auburn Tigers at second doubles. These wins were crucial in order to extend the Kentucky’s undefeated team record in the SEC. No. 23 ranked pair Joshua Lapadat and JJ Mercer continue to stand as a furious squad as well for the Cats with a three-match win streak in doubles standing 8-4 overall.
Sophomore Jaden Weekes leads the Wildcats in singles coming off a hot weekend with two singles victories. Weekes was the first to put the Wildcats on the board by adding the first singles point with a 6-3, 6-3 straight-set win over TAMU’s Togan Tokac, marking his sixth-straight singles victory. Weekes continued to show grit in his second singles match of the weekend with a come-from-behind clinch. This marks his seventh consecutive singles win.
The University of Arkansas men’s tennis team is fueled by the duo of Connor Smillie and Jake Sweeney as they defeated Dimic/Jones last weekend from No. 28 Alabama which marks their seventh victory together this dual season. Stefanos Savva soars in singles for the Razorbacks at the No. 4 position with an overall record of 12-4 along with sophomore Benedikt Emesz who is on an impressive four-match win streak.
The efforts of Carson Baker and J. Hallquist Lithen pushed the Ole Miss Rebels ahead of their competition in doubles as they sit at the No.2 position and snatched their 11th win together of the year against the Florida Gators last week. In singles, No. 62 Nikola Slavic sits at the No. 1 slot alongside Lithen who is 5-2 in conference in singles.
