Jan. 23, 2009
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team plays a rare triple-header at home this weekend to start the regular season. The Wildcats host UNC-Wilmington to open their 2009 slate at 8:30 a.m. Saturday inside the Boone Tennis Complex followed by matches later in the day against Wright State and Murray State.
UK begins the year ranked No 36 in the preseason Intercollegiate Tennis Association Poll. The Wildcats boasts two ranked singles players in No. 4 Bruno Agostinelli and No. 37 Eric Quigley while the doubles pairing of Agostinelli and sophomore Brad Cox start the year at No. 13.
Senior captain Agostinelli and newcomer Quigley both won matches against ranked opponents during the fall season to attain their rankings while the doubles tandem won the Southern Intercollegiate Championships doubles championship to stake its claim in the standings.
UK begins 2009 four notches higher than where it finished last season as a team. The Wildcats return all but one player who participated in the 2008 NCAA Tournament First Round match-up against Virginia Tech last spring.
After making its 19th NCAA tournament appearance over the past 22 years last season, Kentucky will battle through another grueling schedule in 2009. This year 18 of UK’s 27 opponents are ranked in the ITA preseason top-75 team rankings..The Wildcats face six squads ranked in the preseason top-10, including 2009 pre-season No. 1 Ohio State and defending back-to-back National Champion and Southeastern Conference foe, Georgia. Moreover, the SEC amazingly asserts all 12 teams in the top 56 of the country.
UNC-Wilmington comes into the match with a 0-1 record after losing at No. 49 North Carolina State, 7-0 last week. The Seahawks are led by senior Gustavo Bertei playing No. 1 singles. UNCW’s top doubles tandem is Bertei and sophomore Kinshuk Sharma.
The Cats battle Wright State at 1:00 p.m. ET at Boone.
Wright State has already played three matches this season, going 1-2. The Raiders defeated IPFW last 5-2 last Saturday but fell to Duquesne 4-3 earlier in the week after opening the season with a 6-1 loss to Western Michigan. WSU `s No. 1 singles player might look familiar to Wildcat fans because Brian Dredge began his tennis career at Kentucky before moving on to Wright State.
UK closes the evening against Murray State at 6:00 p.m. ET at Boone.
Murray State lost at No. 45 Louisville 7-0 last Friday to open the season. Junior Ben Clos leads the Racers at No.1 singles. Clos teams up with freshman Jose Berado at the top doubles slot.
Please visit UKathletics.com for live stats of all three matches and a full recap of the day’s action.
