Nov. 4, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky men’s tennis senior Eric Quigley posted two impressive singles win Friday, including one over a top-10 ranked player, to advance to the semifinals of the United States Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.
Quigley, who is ranked No. 3 in the nation by the ITA, began the day in the round of 16, squaring off against No. 10 Sebastian Fanselow of Pepperdine. Quigley grabbed a break to win the first set 6-4, before both players held serve for a majority of the second set. With Fanselow up 5-4 and the match on serve in the second set, the Pepperdine star broke Quigley to win 6-4. Both players held serve for a majority of the third set until Quigley earned a key break to go up 5-4 and then held serve to claim the third set and the match 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. The win was the second of the season for Quigley over the top-10 ranked Fanselow.
In the quarterfinals, Quigley posted a dominating 6-1, 6-2 straight-sets win over Haig Schneiderman of Columbia. Quigley earned a break in the first set to increase his lead to 3-1 and won the next three games to take the first set 6-1. The UK star continued his strong play in the second set, rolling to a 6-2 win to seal his spot in the semifinals.
The native of Pewee Valley, Ky., has posted 11 wins over ranked foes this fall, including seven against opponents ranked in the top 25. The senior has a 19-3 record this year and is 137-42 for his career, sitting only seven wins shy of tying the school record for singles wins in a career. Paul Varga (1982-85) holds the school record in career singles wins with a 144-80 post.
This is Quigley’s third-consecutive year to play in the tournament with the senior holding an 8-3 all-time record at the event. Quigley won the singles consolation title at the event last year.
Quigley, the fourth seed in the tournament, will face eighth-seeded Dennis Nevolo of Illinois in the semifinals of the event on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET. The finals of the event will be played Sunday. Nevolo is ranked seventh in the nation in the ITA singles rankings.
Quigley is 6-0 in his collegiate career against Nevolo with the two stars squaring off three times last season, including in the 2010 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Singles Consolation Final, where Quigley defeated Nevolo 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
Fellow UK senior Alex Musialek fell in his second round match in a three-set battle to the tournament’s top seed Mitchell Frank of Virginia. Frank started the match by earning an early break in the first set to go up 3-1 and then held serve the rest of the set to claim the 6-4 win. Musialek then dominated the second set, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead before finishing off the 6-1 win. In the third set, Frank, who is ranked as the top newcomer in the nation by the ITA, took control of the set and the match with a 6-0 win to clinch the match 6-4, 1-6, 6-0.
Musialek is 11-4 this fall, having won eight of his last nine matches, including six wins over ranked foes. For his career, Musialek is 89-41 in singles action, ranking him in sole possession of 19th on UK’s career singles wins list.
Fans can follow live scores from the 2011 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships at ITAtennis.com and access real-time updates on the ITA’s Facebook and Twitter pages. There will also be an exclusive live chat throughout the tournament at USTA.com.
As the only tournament on the ITA calendar to showcase elite players from every level of college tennis, the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships serves as the culmination of the fall season. Hosted by Columbia University, this prestigious event features a 32-player singles draw and a 20-team doubles draw for men and women.
Gaining automatic entry into the tournament are champions from the USTA/ITA Division I Regional Championships held across the country in October, winners of the USTA/ITA National Small College Super Bowl, and the consolation champions, doubles finalists and singles quarterfinalists from the ITA Men’s and Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships.
In many cases, the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships has served as a springboard to success for players at the US Open, which is also played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. At the 2011 US Open alone, 1992 National Indoor singles champion Lisa Raymond (Florida) won the women’s doubles title, 2006 National Indoor doubles champion John Isner (Georgia) reached the singles quarterfinals, and 2007 National Indoor doubles champions Somdev Devvarman and Treat Conrad Huey (Virginia) reunited to win two rounds in doubles.
For more information on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow “UKMensTennis” on Twitter or search “University of Kentucky Men’s Tennis Team” on Facebook.
USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center – Flushing, N.Y.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Men’s Singles First Round
– No. 3 Eric Quigley (Kentucky) def. No. 24 Sadio Doumbia (Georgia) 6-3, 7-6 (2)
– No. 20 Alex Musialek (Kentucky) def. No. 63 Damian Hume (Boise State) 6-0, 6-7, 6-3
Friday, November 4th – 9 a.m.
Men’s Singles Round of 16
– No. 3 Eric Quigley (Kentucky) def. No. 10 Sebastian Fanselow (Pepperdine) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
– Mitchell Frank (Virginia) def. No. 20 Alex Musialek (Kentucky) 6-4, 1-6, 6-0
Men’s Singles Quarterfinals
– No. 3 Eric Quigley (Kentucky) vs. Haig Schneiderman (Columbia) 6-1, 6-2
Saturday, November 5th – 9 a.m.
Men’s Singles Semifinals
– No. 3 Eric Quigley (Kentucky) vs. No. 7 Dennis Nevolo (Illinois) – 2 p.m. ET
Sunday, November 6th – 10 a.m.
Men’s Singles Finals
Hirooka, Jha Lead Wildcats on Day One at Bulldog Scramble: University of Kentucky men’s tennis sophomores Ryuji Hirooka and Panav Jha each posted a win in singles action at day one of the Bulldog Scramble in Athens, Ga., on Friday.
Jha defeated Hunter Harrington of Clemson 6-4, 7-6(4) in the round-robin event, while Hirooka took down Dominique Madden of Clemson in a come-from-behind effort 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-4. Fellow UK sophomores Alejandro Gomez and Maks Gold dropped their lone singles matches on Friday with Gomez falling to No. 74 Yannick Maden of Clemson 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 and Gold falling in a three-set match to Ismael Lahlou of Georgia State 1-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Kentucky also played four doubles matches on Friday with Gomez and Jha making one team and Hirooka and Gold another. UK did not record a win in doubles action.
Play will resume Saturday with two rounds of singles action, beginning at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Friday, November 04, 2011
Doubles:
Dominique Madden/Zachary Rigsby (Clemson) def. Alejandro Gomez/Panav Jha (Kentucky) 8-6
Hunter Harrington/Yannick Maden (Clemson) def. Ryuji Hirooka/Maks Gold (Kentucky) 9-8(1)
Ignacio Taboada/Nathan Pasha (Georgia) def. Alejandro Gomez/Panav Jha (Kentucky) 8-3
Hernus Pieters/Eric Diaz (Georgia) def. Ryuji Hirooka/Maks Gold (Kentucky) 9-8(5)
Singles:
No. 74 Yannick Maden (CLEM) def. Alejandro Gomez (UK), 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
Panav Jha (UK) def. Hunter Harrington (CLEM), 6-4, 7-6(4)
Ryuji Hirooka (UK) def. Dominique Madden (CLEM), 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-4
Ismael Lahlou (Georgia State) def. Maks Gold (Kentucky), 1-6, 6-2, 6-2
