Fresh off of a thrilling 4-3 win at No. 2 Illinois, 19th-ranked Kentucky (16-6, 5-3) will take on another top-10 opponent, as No. 9 Georgia (13-5, 5-3) pays a visit to Lexington Friday. The Cats and Dogs will do battle beginning at 5 p.m. EDT at UK?s Boone Tennis Complex. Live scoring updates will be available at ukathletics.com. Former UK letter winner and assistant coach Ford Lankford will be inducted into the Kentucky Men?s Tennis Hall of Fame between the doubles and singles matches at approximately 6 p.m.
Kentucky is enjoying a seven-match win streak with victories over four Southeastern Conference opponents and the second-ranked Illini. Senior All-American Jesse Witten, the nation?s fourth-ranked singles player, has led the charge, winning 14 of his last 15 matches while totaling a 7-1 SEC record at No. 1 singles. As a result, Witten has emerged as a leading candidate to capture SEC Men?s Tennis Player of the Year award. Witten also teams with senior Tigran Martirosyan to form the nation?s 12th-ranked doubles tandem. Witten and Martirosyan have won their last four matches at No. 1 doubles, including wins over Auburn?s 13th-ranked tandem of Gabor Zoltan Pelva and Alex Schweizer and Illinois? eighth-ranked duo of Ryler Deheart and G.D. Jones.
Junior Alex Hume has won nine of his last 10 singles contests while totaling a 7-1 league record. Junior Nate Emge has claimed his last four singles contests and is unbeaten with Hume in his last six doubles matches.
By way of UK?s two SEC wins last weekend and Georgia?s losses at Florida and South Carolina, Kentucky finds itself locked in a four-way tie for second, along with Tennessee and South Carolina, in the SEC?s Eastern Division. Kentucky has captured two of the last three contests between the two schools, though the Dogs claimed the most recent match, a 4-3 thriller a season ago in Athens.
The Dogs? deep lineup is led by 6-9 sophomore John Isner, the nation?s 12th-ranked men?s singles player. Isner likely will match up with Witten at No. 1 singles. In their only meeting thus far, Isner defeated Witten in three sets at the SEC Indoors in January. Georgia features four other student-athletes featured in the ITA singles rankings in 68th-ranked Antonio Ruiz, 69th-ranked Matic Omerzel, 83rd-ranked Matias Ormaza and 117th-ranked Ricardo Gonzalez. Isner and Ruiz form the ITA?s second-ranked doubles tandem, while Strahinja Bobusic and Louisville native Colin Purcell solidify the nation?s 47th-ranked doubles duo.
Kentucky will wrap up the weekend Sunday with its SEC home finale against Tennessee.
SEC Standings ? each team has three conference matches remaining
Eastern Division SEC Overall Florida 8-0 15-4 Kentucky 5-3 16-6 South Carolina 5-3 17-6 Georgia 5-3 13-5 Tennessee 5-3 10-5 Vanderbilt 2-6 11-8
Western Division SEC Overall Ole Miss 7-1 17-2 Mississippi State 6-2 11-5 LSU 2-6 14-7 Auburn 2-6 10-6 Arkansas 1-7 4-12 Alabama 1-7 0-8
Friday?s SEC Matches
Florida at Mississippi State
Alabama at Arkansas
South Carolina at Ole Miss
Tennessee at Vanderbilt
Georgia at Kentucky
Auburn at LSU
