March 18, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After an impressive 4-0 start in Southeastern Conference play, the seventh-ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis team will take a short break from league action to play host to No. 39 Baylor and in-state foe Murray State on Monday at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex.
The doubleheader will begin with Kentucky (15-3, 4-0 SEC) squaring off against Baylor at Noon ET, before the Wildcats conclude the day with a 6 p.m. showdown with Murray State. Live scores from both matches can be found online at UKathletics.com, while a live interactive blog for fans will be available online for the Baylor match. Admission to all men’s tennis home matches is free of charge.
“Over the last 15 years, Baylor has been one of the top-five programs in the nation,” UK head coach Dennis Emery said. “Matt Knoll is a future hall of fame coach and they have another great team this season. This will be one of our biggest non-conference tests of the year because I fully expect them to end the year with a high ranking. We are playing singles first starting at Noon so our fans can come by during their lunch break and enjoy some great tennis.”
The Wildcats have had a week off from competition after earning two key SEC home wins last weekend against then-No. 9 Florida and then-No. 33 South Carolina. UK won doubles against South Carolina, improving their record to 10-0 this season when it wins the doubles point. Against the highly ranked Gators, UK dropped doubles before rallying in singles to post a 4-3 win. Senior Eric Quigley, junior Anthony Rossi and sophomore Tom Jomby all earned straight-set singles wins in the match to give UK a 3-2 lead before sophomore Grant Roberts posted a three-set thriller at No. 6 singles to clinch the match.
Kentucky, who has won five-consecutive matches, has defeated 12 teams that are currently ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association top 75, including two top-10 teams and eight top-30 teams. UK has wins over No. 8 Pepperdine, No. 10 Florida, No. 20 Texas A&M, No. 21 Indiana, No. 23 Tulsa, No. 27 LSU, No. 28 North Carolina, No. 29 Notre Dame, No. 43 Arkansas, No. 47 Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 48 South Carolina and No. 66 Michigan State.
The Wildcats are one of only three teams in the nation that have six or more ranked singles players. Current No. 1 and two-time defending NCAA National Champions Southern California and No. 2 Ohio State are the only other teams that can claim the honor. Quigley paces the Wildcats at No. 5, while fellow senior Alex Musialek is ranked 21st and Rossi is 28th. Sophomore Alejandro Gomez is 99th, while Jomby sits 101st and fellow sophomore Panav Jha is 116th. Quigley and Jha are 17th in doubles, which is a career-high ranking for the duo.
Quigley leads the team in wins with a 14-0 record in dual matches, while Musialek has been a strong No. 2 singles player with seven wins this spring. Rossi and Jomby have been solid at the middle of the lineup, sitting 11-3 and 10-2, respectively, while Gomez is 12-4 playing mostly at No. 5 singles. Roberts and Jha complete the backend of UK’s lineup with both players earning key wins this season.
Baylor (9-7) enters Monday having lost each of its last two matches to highly ranked foes. The Bears went 0-2 last week, falling to No. 4 UCLA 6-1 and No. 24 Tennessee 4-3. Baylor has two ranked singles players in No. 33 Mate Zsiga and No. 82 Roberto Maytin and two ranked doubles tandems in No. 46 Maytin and Marko Krickovic and No. 78 Maytin and Zisga. Baylor was on a five-match winning streak before the losses to UCLA and UT.
Murray State (3-5) is coming off a 4-3 win over Ohio Valley Conference rival SIU-Edwardsville on Sunday in its first home conference match of the season. The Racers lost four-consecutive matches to start the season, before earning back-to-back wins over Western Kentucky and Bethel. MSU lost its first conference match of the season 6-1 at Austin Peay.
For more information on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow “UKMensTennis” on Twitter or “University of Kentucky men’s tennis team” on Facebook.
Schedule of Events:
Match One: No. 7 Kentucky vs. No. 39 Baylor – Noon ET
Match Two: No. 7 Kentucky vs. Murray State – 6 p.m. ET
