No. 11 Kentucky Hosts Dayton in Doubleheader on Wednesday
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 11 Kentucky men’s tennis team (7-2, 0-0 SEC) hosts a doubleheader against the University of Dayton men’s tennis team (7-4, 0-1 A-10) this Wednesday at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex.
Kentucky squares off with the Flyers at 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday, with the second match of the doubleheader slated to begin at 3 p.m. ET. Both matches are scheduled to be played outdoors at this time with the current projected forecast. Should things change, the matches will be moved indoors.
The Wildcats are led by back-to-back award-winning SEC Freshman of the Week, Eli Stephenson, who remains undefeated in singles with a current record of 6-0. Sophomore Charlelie Cosnet is a powerful force for the Cats as he sits undefeated at 8-0 this season in singles as well.
While Kentucky has young players leading the team, UK can attribute a great deal of success to fifth-year senior Taha Baadi. Baadi has an overall singles record of 6-2 with an impressive record against nationally-ranked opponents at 4-2. Baadi most recently defeated two top-30 ranked opponents against ranked teams No. 6 Virginia and No. 8 Harvard. Baadi was named SEC Player of the Week for his wins over Virginia’s No. 26 Jeffrey von der Schulenberg and Harvard’s No. 12 Cooper Williams. Baadi stands ranked nationally at No.27 in singles.
Kentucky is carried in the doubles session by JJ Mercer and Josh Lapadat, who are a ranked doubles’ pair at No. 44 with an overall record of 4-2 this season.
Dayton is led by freshman Kyle McNally who currently has a six-match winning streak and senior Erik Eliasson who has a five-match winning streak. On the doubles side, the Flyers have a dangerous duo of fifth-year seniors Connor Bruce and Nikola Puric with a 12-4 overall record. Freshman McNally has proved himself this season recently being named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week as well as the Ohio College Advantage Student-Athlete of the Week.
The showdown with Dayton will mark the second doubleheader of the season for the Wildcats as they swept NKU and EKU in their first doubleheader at home this year. This matchup is also the third-straight season in which Kentucky and Dayton have squared off in a doubleheader with the Wildcats earning a pair of wins the past two years.
For those unable to attend, both matches will feature live stats, available through StatBroadcast, and a live stream provided on TrackTennis
For the latest on UK Men’s Tennis, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @UKMensTennis.
