Nov. 4, 2010
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team lost two hard-fought battles Thursday with junior Eric Quigley dropping his first-round singles match in three sets and Quigley and senior Brad Cox falling in a tiebreaker in their first-round doubles match at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in Flushing, N.Y.
Quigley and Cox began the day by playing in doubles against Kevin King and Juan Spir of Georgia Tech. The two doubles teams went back and forth in the match all the way to 8-8, forcing a tiebreaker. In the decisive tiebreaker, the two teams again continued to battle before the Yellow Jacket duo took the tiebreaker 8-6 and the match 9-8 (6). The loss drops Quigley/Cox to the doubles consolation bracket. The UK tandem will take on Aleksey Bessonov and Rifat Biktyakov of Oklahoma State. A time has not been announced.
In singles action, Quigley took on Blaz Rola of Ohio State, who is second in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association preseason singles poll for freshman and newcomers and has an ATP ranking of 417. Quigley took the first set from the talented freshman in a tiebreaker 7-6, but then Rola responded with a second-set tiebreaker win to force a decisive third set. In the third, Rola jumped out to a 3-0 lead and didn’t look back from there, taking the match 6-7, 7-6, 6-2.
“This was a great match,” head coach Dennis Emery said. “Eric played great to win the first set and went up a break in the second set but was broken back. Their guy took some good risks in the second set breaker that paid off for him. In the third set, Eric just got off to a bad start and could not quite get all the way back.
“It was a tough draw because this player (Rola) was a freshman and ranked 350 in the world on the ATP Tour he just hadn’t played enough at the college level to be ranked yet. He sure will be though.”
Quigley, who was the No. 2 seed in the tournament, was one of four seeded players to fall in the first round. No. 1 seeded Alex Domijan of Virgina, who defeated Quigley for the ITA All-American Championships title in early October, No. 6 seeded Guillermo Gomez of Georgia Tech and No. 5 seeded John-Patrick Smith of Tennessee also fell in day one.
“The singles back draw (consolation bracket) affords lots of opportunities as the No. 1, 2 and 4 ranked players in the ITA singles poll are there, along with Alex Domijan, who won the first grand slam of the year over Eric in Tulsa,” Emery said.
Quigley will play in the consolation bracket Friday, although a time and a opponent has not been released.
The event features the nation’s top men’s and women’s collegiate tennis players. The championships feature a 32-player singles field and 16-team doubles field for men and women, including champions from USTA/ITA Regional Championships held across the country during October, the USTA/ITA National Small College “Super Bowl” champions, the doubles champions and singles quarterfinalists from the D’Novo/ITA Men’s and Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships, as well as at-large and wild card selections made by the ITA National Tournament Committee.
Quigley and Cox will be in action again Friday, playing in the doubles and singles consolation bracket. Live scores and updated draws for the tournament will be posted on the Intercollegiate Tennis Association website. Complete draws for the tournament have not been released.
The National Indoors Championship was inaugurated in 1978 for the men and 1984 for the women. Past champions and finalists include current professionals Benjamin Becker (Baylor), James Blake (Harvard), Bob and Mike Bryan (Stanford), Somdev Devvarman (Virginia), Laura Granville (Stanford), John Isner (Georgia), and Lisa Raymond (Florida). Big Ten legends and Grand Slam finalists Todd Martin (Northwestern) and MaliVai Washington (Michigan) are also among the past champions.
USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships
Schedule of Play
Friday, Nov. 5 – 9 a.m. ET
Men’s and Women’s Doubles Quarterfinals
Men’s and Women’s Singles Consolation
Men’s and Women’s Singles Quarterfinals
Men’s and Women’s Singles Consolation Quarterfinals
Saturday, Nov. 6 – 9 a.m. ET
Men’s and Women’s Doubles Semifinals
Men’s and Women’s Singles Semifinals
Men’s and Women’s Singles Consolation Semifinals
Sunday, Nov. 7 – 10 a.m. ET
Men’s and Women’s Doubles Finals
Men’s and Women’s Consolation Finals
Men’s and Women’s Singles Finals
