Oct. 19, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After a successful start to the fall season, the University of Kentucky men’s tennis team looks to continue its winning ways when it travels south to compete in the United States Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Ohio Valley Regional Championships at the Goodfriend Tennis Center and Knoxville Racquet Club beginning Thursday morning in Knoxville, Tenn.
Kentucky will send a handful of players to the event in seniors No. 3 Eric Quigley and No. 20 Alex Musialek, junior No. 95 Anthony Rossi and sophomores Maks Gold, Alejandro Gomez, Ryuji Hirooka, Panav Jha and Tom Jomby. Quigley is the overall No. 1 seed at the event, while Musialek is the No. 2 seed and Rossi is the No. 4 seed.
In doubles action, Quigley and Musialek, who are ranked No. 19 in the nation in doubles, are the No. 1 seed, while Jomby and Rossi will play together as the No. 8 seed. Gold and Hirooka, who won the Southern Intercollegiate Division II Doubles Championship earlier this fall, will play together at the event, while Gomez and Jha are Kentucky’s fourth doubles tandem.
“We are excited to get this regional started and see how our players perform,” UK head coach Dennis Emery said. “Our regional is always filled with very talented players and this year is no different. I think that this tournament will give our guys a good test as we continue to prepare for the spring season. We are anxious to see how they respond to this level of competition.”
A complete schedule of Kentucky’s matches on Thursday is listed below.
Kentucky is coming off an strong showing in the ITA All-American Championships, where Quigley won the singles consolation title and sealed his ticket to the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships. After falling in the opening round of the All-American Championships, Quigley won five-consecutive matches, all against opponents that are ranked in the top 40 in the nation in singles, including No. 8 Evan King, No. 10 Fanselow, No. 19 Finn Tearney, No. 25 Luka Somen and No. 36 Louis Cant.
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 12-0 record in singles play while only dropping 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.
Schedule of Play – All Times Eastern
Thursday, Oct. 20
Singles First Round:
No. 3 Eric Quigley (UK) vs. Robert Salcedo (Dayton) 8:30 a.m.
No. 95 Anthony Rossi (UK) vs. Ray Leonard (Ball State) 9:30 a.m.
Alejandro Gomez (UK) vs. Elfore Zito (MTSU) 10 a.m.
Panav Jha (UK) vs. Jose Berardo (Murray State) 10:30 a.m.
Maks Gold (UK) vs. Sander Gille (ETSU) 11:30 a.m.
Ryuji Hirooka (UK) vs. Joe Salisbury (Memphis) 12 p.m.
Tom Jomby (UK) vs. Max McLean (Murray State) 1:30 p.m.
No. 20 Alex Musialek (UK) vs. Michael Lyzwa (Wright State) 1:30 p.m.
Doubles First Round:
No. 19 Eric Quigley/Alex Musailek (UK) – receive first round bye
Alejandro Gomez/Panav Jha (UK) vs. Patrick Bandy/Jimmy Roebker (Xavier) 2 p.m.
Maks Gold/Ryuji Hirooka (UK) vs. William Hever/Pawel Poziomski (Purdue) 2:30 p.m.
Tom Jomby/Anthony Rossi (UK) vs. Cameron Dickerson/Forrest Edwards (MTSU) 3:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 21
Singles — 2nd Round
Singles — 3rd Round
Singles — Consolation 1st Round
Saturday, Oct. 22
Doubles — 3rd Round
Doubles — Quarterfinals
Singles — Consolation 2nd Round
Singles — 4th Round
Singles — Consolation 3rd Round
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
