LEXINGTON, Ky. ? The University of Kentucky men?s tennis team learned its opponent and the location of its regional as the NCAA announced its 64-team tournament selections Tuesday afternoon. The No. 37 Wildcats will face the No. 30 Hokies of Virginia Tech in the first round of the Knoxville, Tenn. regional with first serve scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET on Sat. May 10.
Host Tennessee faces Furman in the other regional match-up. The eighth-seeded Volunteers and No. 69 Paladins are scheduled to take the courts the same day at 11 a.m. ET. The winner of the Hokies-Wildcats match will meet the victor of the Volunteers-Paladins contest on the UT Varsity Tennis Courts at 2:00 p.m. ET Sun. May 11. The regional winner will advance to play in the NCAA Team Championships in Tulsa, Okla., May 16-21.
?I feel like this is a good draw for us,? said head coach Dennis Emery. ?We felt like there was a good possibility we were going to Tennessee, since the NCAA does a lot of the pairings geographically. It was just a matter of who we were going to play.
?I don?t think we?ve played Virginia Tech in my 26 years here. I have been trying to schedule them for a regular-season match over the last few years, so it is ironic that we meet them in the NCAA first round. It should be a fun match.?
Since 1987 Kentucky has made a total 19 NCAA appearances, including a string of 13 consecutive bids, all under the direction of Emery. The Wildcat coach claims the third-most tournament berths among active coaches today. In his 26 seasons at Kentucky, Emery has guided his Wildcat teams to the NCAA quarterfinals on three occasions: in 1988, 1992 and most recently 2002. In addition to the three ?elite eight? appearances, the Cats have advanced to the round of 16 five times. Kentucky?s last post-season appearance was a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Wake Forest in 2006 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va.
Playing one of the toughest schedules in the country, the Wildcats battled 15 NCAA tournament teams and 21 ranked squads this season. Kentucky finished the year strong going 6-6 over the last 12 matches of the season. All six losses came against teams ranked in the top-30, while four of the Cats? victories were over top-40 squads during the dozen-game stretch.
?We are really proud that our team got in,? Emery said. ?We had a lot of adversity all year. At the end of the year we were basically playing four freshmen in our top-six and three in our top doubles teams. We were definitely playing our best tennis at the end of the year.?
The Wildcats (12-15) go into next week?s battle with its highest ranking of the season at No. 37. UK was also ranked in that position in the Apr. 1 poll. Kentucky last played in the Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinals, coming up short against No. 5 Ole Miss 4-0, after beating No. 35 Auburn 4-2 in the opening round in Fayetteville, Ark.
Bruno Agostinelli leads the Cats into the post-season. The junior is currently ranked in the top-25 in both singles and doubles. Agostinelli stands at No. 20 in singles while he and freshman doubles partner Brad Cox are ranked 22nd in the nation. The All-SEC First Team member has a 22-13 record this season including 14 victories against ranked opponents at No.1 singles. As a tandem, Agostinelli and Cox stand at 15-11 including an 8-4 ledger against the SEC.
Agostinelli is likely to receive a bid to the individual singles championships. Cox and Agostinelli are also expected to be invited as an NCAA doubles team participant. Cox would be just the second freshman ever and the first rookie in doubles to make the NCAA tournament. Former Wildcat Jesse Witten advanced to the singles championships in his first year.
Both championships take place in Tulsa after the Team Championships, May 22-26. The fields for both the doubles and singles championships will be unveiled Weds. Apr. 30 after 5:00 p.m. ET on NCAAsports.com. The draws will be announced later in Tulsa.
Virginia Tech (15-8) from the Atlantic Coast Conference comes into the tournament after a 4-2 loss to No. 28 Wake Forest in the conference quarterfinals. The Hokies defeated then No. 69 Clemson 4-3 in the first round of the 2008 ACC Championships. This year marks the eighth time in school history that Virginia Tech has made a tournament appearance. Last season, the Hokies fell to Old Dominion 4-3 at the Charlottesville, Va., regional in the first round. The Cats hold a 5-2 record all-time against the Hokies.
No. 45 Albert Larregola leads Virginia Tech at No. 1 singles this season with a 27-14 record. Junior Nicolas Delgado de Robles has been ranked this season while playing at No. 2 singles. He was a finalist at the Wilson/ITA Mideast Region tournament in the fall and advanced to the Round of 16 at the ITA National Indoor Championships.
?We will call around to people we know in the ACC to scout Virginia Tech,? Emery said. ?Bruno (Agostinelli) beat their top-player Larregola earlier in a fall tournament but they haven?t played in a dual match. Virginia Tech has developed into a really strong ACC program in recent years. They have a good, young coach who just does a great job there.?
UK could battle No.8 Tennessee (21-3) in the second round in what would be their third meeting this year. Tennessee is 2-0 against the Cats this season taking a non-conference match, 6-1, in Lexington in February and sweeping UK in Knoxville earlier this month.
SEC Freshman of the Year J.P. Smith leads the Volunteers in singles, ranked 24th in the country. No. 35 Kaden Hensel and No. 93 Boris Conkic contribute to a strong UT line-up. As a doubles pair, Smith and Hensel are currently ranked fourth nationally.
Tennessee ended its regular-season by beating defending National Champion Georgia 4-3 in Knoxville. The three losses for the Volunteers include a pair to No. 4 Ole Miss and a loss at No. 9 Florida. The Vols lone loss at home was to the Rebels in February.
No. 69 Furman (16-10) is the automatic qualifier from the Southern Conference. The Paladins won both the regular-season and tournament conference championships this season. Legendary coach Paul Scarpa has been at the helm of the Furman tennis program for 44 years compiling over 800 wins, the most among active coaches in Division I. Junior Andy Juc leads the Paladins at No. 1 singles and doubles while classmate Bo Ladyman plays at the No. 2 singles slot.
?Tennessee has a little bit of altitude for tennis, which is a slight factor,? said Emery. ?So I think it does help that we played there. They have a little bit different facility. They have more room behind their backstops. The background is a little different because it is built into a hill. I think knowing all of those things will help us.?
The field of individuals selected to the singles and doubles championships will be posted on NCAAsports.com no later than 6 p.m. ET Wed. Apr. 30.
Stay tuned to UKathletics.com for the latest updates.
