LEXINGTON, Ky. –The No. 5 Illinois men’s tennis team defeated No. 30 Kentucky 7-0 Wednesday at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center. The loss dropped the Cats? record to 15-8 (6-4 Southeastern Conference) while Illinois improved to 16-5 (5-1 Big Ten) on the season.
The Wildcats had a rough outing against the Fighting Illini losing all nine matches on the day including the three doubles contests. Marc Spicijaric and GD Jones started Illinois? winning ways by beating UK?s team of freshmen Bruno Agostinelli and Kenny Hodge 8-4 in the No. 3 doubles position. The nation?s No. 17 doubles tandem of Ryler DeHeart and Pramod Dabir turned back Kentucky?s duo of freshman Shane Collins and senior Nate Emge 8-3 in the No. 2 slot. The nation?s fourth-ranked team of Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe finished off the doubles sweep for the Illini by defeating senior Alex Hume and sophomore Marcus Sundh 8-5.
The Fighting Illini continued their assault in singles action as No. 60 Rowe swept No. 58 Agostinelli 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 3 position. At the No. 5 spot, Spicijaric put Illinois up 3-0 with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over senior Carey Rubin.
At the No. 6 position, Dabir clinched the match for Illinois by sweeping Hodge 6-3, 6-4. No. 115 Emge fell at the No. 2 spot to Jones 6-3, 6-2 while Ruben Gonzales outlasted Sundh 6-3, 4-6, 10-2 at the No. 4 slot. No. 56 Hume lost a spirited match to the nation?s third-ranked player in DeHeart 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 at the No.1 position to conclude the day?s action.
?Illinois is an excellent team with a chance to win the national championship,? head coach Dennis Emery said. ?They (Illinois) simply overpowered us today. Hopefully we can learn from this and move on to our upcoming match against Vandy.?
Kentucky will conclude its regular season this Saturday at 1 p.m. EDT against No. 72 Vanderbilt at the Boone Tennis Center. Following the conclusion of the match, UK will honor its senior class of Emge, Hume and Rubin. Fans can check ukathletics.com for live stats and a complete recap.
No. 5 Illinois def. No. 30 UK 7-0
Double
1.Rowe/Anderson (UI) def. Hume/Sundh (UK) – 8-5
2.DeHeart/Dabir (UI) def. Collins/Emge (UK) – 8-3
3.Spicijaric/Jones (UI) def. Agostinelli/Hodge (UK) – 8-4
Singles
1.Ryler DeHeart (UI) def. Alex Hume (UK) – 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
2.GD Jones (UI) def. Nate Emge (UK) – 6-3, 6-2
3.Ryan Rowe (UI) def. Bruno Agostinelli (UK) – 6-4, 6-2
4.Ruben Gonzales (UI) def. Marcus Sundh (UK) – 6-3, 4-6, 10-2
5.Marc Spicijaric (UI) def. Carey Rubin (UK) – 6-1, 6-3
6.Pramod Dabir (UI) def. Kenny Hodge (UK) – 6-3, 6-4
