LEXINGTON, Ky. ? University of Kentucky men?s tennis head coach Dennis Emery added an evening match-up with in-state rival Morehead State after the originally-scheduled battle with the University of Illinois on Wednesday. First serve against the Fighting Illini is set for 3:00 p.m. ET. The match with the Eagles immediately follows, at tentatively 7:00 p.m. ET at the Boone Tennis Complex.
Kentucky (10-10) rocketed up another 13 spots to No. 37 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings released Tuesday, after a 3-1 week that included wins over No. 34 Notre Dame and No. 49 Mississippi State.
UK junior Bruno Agostinelli also made a meteoric rise in the singles standings to No. 19 up 29 spots from his No. 48 position last week. His ranking is the highest of his career and the best for a Wildcat since Jesse Witten?s run in the top-five at the end of 2005. Agostinelli extended his win streak to six matches in a row with his fifth-consecutive defeat of a ranked player at No. 1 singles after defeating Ole Miss? No.14 Matthias Wellerman Sunday. Earlier in the week, Agostinelli defeated top Bulldog No. 26 Ivan Bjelica and Notre Dame?s No.1 singles player No. 42 Brett Helgeson.
Agostinelli and doubles partner Brad Cox went 3-1 last week with wins over the Fighting Irish, Bulldogs and top tandem from Murray State, the only loss being to the No. 6 team of Erling Tveit and Jonas Berg from Ole Miss.
Cox, a freshman, earned his biggest singles win of his young collegiate career by beating former 2006 NCAA singles semi-finalist and 13th-ranked player in the nation, Tveit of Ole Miss 6-1, 5-7, 1-0 (10-8).
Illinois (10-6) is coming off of a 5-2 weekend loss on the road at No. 35 Wisconsin following a road win at Northwestern. The Illini are led by No. 12 Ryan Rowe in singles while Ruben Gonzales (No. 90) and Billy Heiser (No. 94) are also ranked. Kentucky and Illinois share five common opponents this season. The Illini and Cats both lost to Virginia, Florida and Tennessee and beat Notre Dame. The only difference is an Illinois win over LSU, compared to the Cats’ loss to the Tigers.
Morehead State (7-7) is coming off a 7-0 loss at the hands of common opponent Eastern Kentucky Tuesday night. UK beat the Colonels 5-1 in Richmond, Ky. in its first match of the season. Last weekend the Eagles swept Murray State 7-0, just two days after the Cats had swept the Racers. The Eagles are led by senior Greg Johnstone at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles with partner Bradley Bryan.
Weather-permitting, matches may be played outdoors at Boone Tennis Complex. Live stats will be available for both contests. A full recap of each match will be available on UKathletics.com.
