Oct. 25, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –
Kentucky men’s tennis sophomore Eric Quigley continued his fantastic fall by advancing to both the singles and doubles quarterfinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Ohio Valley Regional Championships inside Indiana University’s Indoor Tennis Center in Bloomington, Ind., Saturday.
Quigley and doubles partner Brad Cox are scheduled on the court at 9:00 a.m. Sunday for the duo’s quarterfinal against East Tennessee State’s Grega Teraz and Charles Bottoli. In his singles afternoon quarterfinal, seventh-seeded Quigley lines up against ninth-seeded Rhyne Williams of Tennessee who knocked off top-seeded Austen Childs of Louisville in the round of 16 convincingly 6-2, 6-0.
The No. 24 ranked tandem of Cox and Quigley opened action on Saturday by cruising to the round of 16 with an 8-2 win over Eastern Kentucky’s Niklas Schroeder and Philip Janz. Later in the day in a sweet 16 match, the fifth-seeded Wildcats toppled Louisville’s Alejandro Caligari and Robert Hall 8-6 to move on to the quarters.
Ranked No. 70 in the fall ITA preseason rankings, Quigley defeated Southeastern Conference foe Charlie Jones of Vanderbilt 6-3, 6-4 to move on. In the sweet 16, the Wildcat sophomore extinguished the hopes of ninth-seeded Jesus Bandres 6-2, 6-1 to roll into the quarterfinals.
Three other Cats were in singles action Saturday.
In the second round, UK senior Alex Lambropoulos fell in a tight three-set match to ninth-seeded Slavko Bjelica of Purdue. The Boilermaker won the first set 6-3 but the Wildcat rebounded to take the second 6-2. In the deciding set, Bjelica slipped past Lambropoulos 6-4.
Wildcat Alberto Gonzalez lost another tight three-setter to fourth-seeded John Peers of Middle Tennessee State in the second round. Peers, ranked No. 58 nationally, took the first set 6-3. Gonzalez pressured the Blue Raider into a deciding set after a grueling second set 7-6 win after clinching the tiebreaker 10-8. Peers persevered in the final set at 6-3 to move on to the quarterfinals as the highest ranked player remaining in the field.
Cox dropped his second round match in straight sets to Vanderbilt’s Ryan Lipman 6-2, 6-3 after his doubles victory with Quigley earlier in the day.
In doubles, Lambropoulos and Gonzalez came up short against the tourney’s second-seeded team of Austen Childs and Simon Childs from Louisville in a second round match Saturday morning 8-5. The Cardinals are ranked 10th nationally.
Quarterfinal matches for both draws are scheduled for Sunday morning followed singles semifinals later in the day.
Stay tuned to UKathletics.com for nightly recaps of all Wildcat matches this weekend.
October 24, 2009
Bloomington, Ind. (IU Tennis Center)
ITA Ohio Valley Regional
Main Draw Singles – Second Round
#70 Eric Quigley (UK) def. Charlie Jones (VU) 6-3, 6-4
Slavko Bjelica (PU) def. Alex Lambropoulos (UK) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
#58 John Peers (MTSU) def. Alberto Gonzalez (UK) 6-3, 6-7(8), 6-3
Ryan Lipman (VU) def. Brad Cox (UK) 6-2, 6-3
Main Draw Singles -Round of 16
#70 Eric Quigley (UK) def. Jesus Bandres (ETSU) 6-2, 6-1
Main Draw Doubles – Second Round
#24 Brad Cox / Eric Quigley (UK) def. Philip Janz / Niklas Schroeder (EKU) 8-2
#10 Austen Childs / Simon Childs (UL) def. Alberto Gonzalez / Alex Lambropoulos (UK) 8-5
Main Draw Doubles – Round of 16
#24 Brad Cox / Eric Quigley (UK) def. Alejandro Caligari / Robert Hall (UL) 8-6
