Oct. 22, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Five members of the University of Kentucky men’s tennis team continued their winning ways on Saturday, including seniors No. 3 Eric Quigley and No. 20 Alex Musialek, advancing to the singles main draw quarterfinals at the United States Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Ohio Valley Regional Indoor Championships in Knoxville, Tenn.
Kentucky owns five of the eight quarterfinal spots in the singles main draw, including the entire bottom part of the bracket. Quigley and Musialek will be joined in the quarterfinals by junior No. 95 Anthony Rossi and sophomores Tom Jomby and Panav Jha. Because of UK’s depth in the quarterfinals, two quarterfinal matches will feature Kentucky players competing against each other for a spot in the semifinals.
“Our guys have just played really well in this tournament and because of that we have advanced deep into this tournament and into a unique situation,” UK head coach Dennis Emery said about having two matches Sunday that feature two UK players going head-to-head. “The entire bottom draw is our players and although it is a strange situation, it is good to see our guys play as well as they are playing right now. One thing that we understand is that it is a fall tournament, but we couldn’t really do much better this fall than we have done so far. Our guys have performed really well against some really good competition.”
Quigley, who is ranked third in the nation in singles, advanced to the quarterfinals with 6-1, 6-4 win over Mark Kovacs of Purdue, while Musialek, who is ranked 20th in the nation in singles, took down Jeremy Langer of Indiana to advance to the round of eight. Rossi and Jomby each defeated a player from Tennessee to advance in the tournament with Rossi winning 6-3, 6-4 over Michael Lippens and Jomby taking down Ed Jones 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3.
Jha continued to impress the UK coaching staff and have a breakout tournament on Saturday by defeating Mikelis Libietis of Tennessee in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (6). Libietis is ranked as the seventh-best newcomer/freshman in the nation this season by the ITA.
“This has been a breakthrough tournament for Panav,” Emery said. “To beat some of the guys he has beaten has been impressive. Coming off his redshirt year he has been a little rusty, but this is the way we anticipated him playing when we recruited him. He has been working really hard and to see that pay off for him has been rewarding.”
All quarterfinal matches will begin at 9:30 a.m. ET on Sunday at the Goodfriend Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Tennessee. Quigley, the top seed in the tournament, will face Andrew Carter of Louisville, who is seeded No. 9-16 at the event. At the bottom of the bracket, No. 9-16 seed Jomby and No. 4 seed Rossi will square off against each other with the winner facing the victor of Jha and No. 2 seed Musialek. The singles semifinals will take place at 12:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
“Coming off a very good day today, we need to remain focused and finish this tournament well,” Emery said. “The idea is to qualify as many players as you can in singles and doubles for the National Indoors and that is our goal over the next two days. I think our guys know that and will stay focused.”
Quigley and Musialek also advanced in the doubles main draw, with the duo posting two wins on Saturday to secure a spot in the semifinals. Ranked No. 19 in the nation in doubles, the tandem started the day with an 8-6 win over Will Kendall and Dimitrije Tasic of Indiana before taking down Carter and Sebastian Stiefelmeyer of Louisville 8-5. The No. 1-seeded duo will face the No. 3 seeded Isade Juneau and Langer of Indiana in the semifinals. The doubles final will be played Monday.
Sophomores Maks Gold and Ryuji Hirooka advanced to the quarterfinals of the doubles main draw with an 8-6 win over Zach Ervin and Sam O’Neill of Butler, but fell in the round of eight to Juneau and Langer of Indiana.
Hirooka wrapped up the fantastic day on the courts for the Wildcats by posting two wins in the singles consolation bracket. Hirooka took down Brandon MacDonald of Xavier 6-3, 6-1 in the second round before besting Diego Acosta of Purdue 6-3, 6-2 in the third round. Hirooka will face Manuel Barroetavena of Chattanooga in the consolation quarterfinals on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. ET. The consolation semifinals are scheduled for Sunday at 11:30 a.m. ET.
Quigley has claimed back-to-back singles titles at the event after taking down then-No. 1 JP Smith of Tennessee last year and No. 13 Ryan Lipman of Vanderbilt University in 2009. Quigley has been dominate at the tournament the past two seasons, posting a 16-0 record in singles play, dropping only one set.
The winners of the singles and doubles main draw will advance to compete in the 2011 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, which will be held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. Nov. 3-6.
Hosted by Columbia University, the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships features a 32-player singles draw and a 20-team doubles draw. Heading the field are champions from USTA/ITA Division I Regional Championships held across the country in October, winners of the USTA/ITA National Small College “Super Bowl,” and the singles quarterfinalists, doubles finalists and consolation champions from the ITA Men’s All-American Championships.
The USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships was inaugurated in 1978 for the men and 1984 for the women. Past champions and finalists include current professionals John Isner (Georgia), James Blake (Harvard), Somdev Devvarman (Virginia), Irina Falconi (Georgia Tech), Lisa Raymond (Florida) and Bob and Mike Bryan (Stanford).
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 Ohio Valley Regional Indoor Championships
Goodfriend Tennis Center/Knoxville Racquet Club – Knoxville, Tenn.
Results/Schedule of Play – All Times Eastern
Thursday, Oct. 20
Singles First Round:
No. 3 Eric Quigley (UK) def. Robert Salcedo (Dayton) 6-0, 6-0
No. 95 Anthony Rossi (UK) def. Ray Leonard (Ball State) 6-1, 6-1
Alejandro Gomez (UK) def. Elfore Zito (MTSU) 7-6, 6-2
Panav Jha (UK) def. Jose Berardo (Murray State) 6-2, 6-0
Sander Gille (ETSU) def. Maks Gold (UK) 6-4, 6-2
Joe Salisbury (Memphis) def. Ryuji Hirooka (UK) 6-2, 6-2
No. 20 Alex Musialek (UK) def. Michael Lyzwa (Wright State) 6-1, 6-0
Doubles First Round:
Alejandro Gomez/Panav Jha (UK) def. Patrick Bandy/Jimmy Roebker (Xavier) 8-2
Maks Gold/Ryuji Hirooka (UK) def. William Hever/Pawel Poziomski (Purdue) 8-5
Tom Jomby/Anthony Rossi (UK) vs. Cameron Dickerson/Forrest Edwards (MTSU) 8-4
Doubles Second Round:
No. 19 Eric Quigley/Alex Musialek (UK) def. Renato Antun/Rafael Matos (Belmont) 3-3, ret.
Brandon Fickey/Edward Jones (UT) def. Tom Jomby/Anthony Rossi (UK) 8-6
Maks Gold/Ryuji Hirooka (UK) def. Marlon Brand/Ben Davis (MTSU) 8-4
Alejandro Gomez/Panav Jha (UK) def. Jesus Bandres/Sander Gille (ETSU) 8-3
Friday, Oct. 21
Singles Second Round:
No. 3 Eric Quigley (UK) def. Rodrigo Amaral (Belmont) 6-1, 6-2
No. 20 Alex Musialek (UK) def. Hugo Klientovsky (EKU) 6-3, 6-1
No. 95 Anthony Rossi (UK) def. Will Kendall (Indiana) 6-2, 6-3
Alejandro Gomez (UK) def. Pawel Poziomski (Purdue) 6-2, 6-2
Tom Jomby (UK) def. Richard Canelas (Xavier) 6-3, 6-3
Panav Jha (UK) def. Saymon Tatarczyk (Purdue) 6-3, 7-5
Singles Third Round:
No. 3 Eric Quigley (UK) def. Dimitrije Tasic (Indiana) 6-3, 6-1
No. 20 Alex Musialek (UK) def. Syrym Abdukhailikov (Tennessee Tech) 6-7, 7-6, 6-2
No. 95 Anthony Rossi (UK) def. David O’Hare (Memphis) 6-1, 6-2
Tom Jomby (UK) def. Isade Juneau (Indiana) 6-3, 6-2
Andrew Carter (Louisville) def. Alejandro Gomez (UK) 6-4, 6-4
Panav Jha (UK) def. Sebastian Stiefelmeyer (Louisville) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6
Singles Consolation:
Andrew Hanley (Dayton) def. Maks Gold (UK) 6-2, 4-6, [10-6]
Ryuji Hirooka (UK) def. Joao Maio (EKU) 6-0, 6-0
Saturday, Oct. 22
Doubles Round of 16:
No. 19 Eric Quigley/Alex Musialek (UK) def. Will Kendall/Dimitrije Tasic (Indiana) 8-6
Maks Gold/Ryuji Hirooka (UK) def. Zach Ervin/Sam O’Neill (Butler) 8-6
Mikelis Libietis/Hunter Reese (Tennessee) def. Alejandro Gomez/Panav Jha (UK) 8-3
Doubles Quarterfinals:
No. 19 Eric Quigley/Alex Musialek def. Andrew Carter/Sebastian Stiefelmeyer (Louisville) 8-5
Isade Juneau/Jeremy Langer (Indiana) def. Maks Gold/Ryuji Hirooka (UK) 8-6
Singles Round of 16:
No. 3 Eric Quigley (UK) def. Mark Kovacs (Purdue) 6-1, 6-4
No. 20 Alex Musialek (UK) def. Jeremy Langer (Indiana) 6-3, 6-2
No. 95 Anthony Rossi (UK) def. Michael Lippens (Tennessee) 6-3, 6-4
Tom Jomby (UK) def. Edward Jones (Tennessee) 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3
Panav Jha (UK) def. Mikelis Libietis (Tennessee) 6-3, 7-6 (6)
Singles Consolation Second Round
Ryuji Hirooka (UK) def. Brandon MacDonald (Xavier) 6-3, 6-1
Singles Consolation Third Round
Ryuji Hirooka (UK) def. Diego Acosta (Purdue) 6-3, 6-2
Sunday, Oct. 23
Singles — Consolation Quarterfinals
Singles — Quarterfinals
Singles — Consolation Semifinals
Singles — Semifinals
Doubles — Semifinals
Monday, Oct. 24
Singles — Final
Singles — Consolation Final
Doubles — Final
* Matches Thursday-Sunday begin each day at 8:30 a.m. ET. Finals on Monday are set for 10 a.m. ET
