Oct. 20, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Senior captain Anthony Rossi and junior Tom Jomby both won two matches on Saturday afternoon at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Ohio Valley Indoor Regional Championships in Memphis, Tenn., as UK placed five singles players into the round of 32 at the Memphis Racquet Club.
“We did a pretty good job today,” UK head coach Cedric Kauffmann said. “We competed well and were in every match we played in. We needed to play better at the end of some sets to upset some seeds. The boys need to understand that pretty good will not be good enough in the spring. I am excited about tomorrow’s doubles and the singles play of Rossi and Jomby.”
Rossi won the opening match of the day in Memphis, claiming a straight-set 6-3, 6-0 win over Manuel Barroetavena of UT Chattanooga. The day would continue for the France native, as Rossi defeated Lauri Makikallii of Wright State to claim his second straight-set win of the day at 6-4, 7-5.
Jomby, who is the number four overall seed in the draw, began his day with a defeat of Dalton Albertin of Ball State University 7-5, 6-2 to advance to the round of 32. Jomby then won 6-3, 6-4 over Syrym Adbukhalikov of Tennessee Tech University.
Both Jomby and Rossi advance to the round of 16 and will be the two representatives for Kentucky in singles Sunday. They will both play at 2:00 p.m. ET as Rossi will take on Ryan Lipman of fellow Southeastern Conference school Vanderbilt and Rossi will face off against David O’Hare of Memphis.
In other singles action, Panav Jha, Kevin Lai and Grant Roberts all won their opening matches of the day, placing five Wildcats in the round of 32, joining Rossi and Jomby. Jha, the No. 5 overall seed in the draw fell in his second match of the day in three sets to Dimitrije Tasic of Indiana 7-5, 6-7, 6-2. The junior advanced to the round of 32 by defeating Aidan Kaross of Dayton 7-6, 6-2.
Lai also defeated his second-round opponent, knocking off John Collins in a 6-3, 6-1 in straights before falling to Sebastian Stiefelmeyer of Louisville 6-4, 6-4. Roberts, the No. 17 seed in the draw started off his day by defeating Michael Moe of Xavier in two easy sets, 6-3, 6-4 before falling to No. 7 David O’Leary of Memphis in a tight three setter, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. Beck Pennington fell in his only match of the day to Jorge Varon of East Tennessee State.
Doubles action picks up again Sunday afternoon after a day off from Memphis, as two UK teams have advanced to the quarterfinal round, and will be playing each other for the spot in the semifinals. The match will feature the No. 4 seed of Jomby and Lai taking on the unseeded team of Ryuji Hirooka and Pennington. The match will take place at 10:00 a.m. ET.
UK Schedule of Play – (Sunday, October 21, 2012)
Singles Round of 16:
2:00 p.m. ET – (1) Anthony Rossi (UK) vs. Ryan Lipman (Vanderbilt)
2:00 p.m. ET – (4) Tom Jomby (UK) vs. David O’Hare (Memphis)
Doubles Quarterfinals:
10:00 a.m. ET – Hirooka/Pennington (UK) vs. (4) Jomby/Lai (UK)
For continuing coverage of UK men’s tennis, log on to UKathletics.com.
