No. 5 Kentucky Downs Ole Miss in Easter Sunday Showdown
OXFORD, Miss. – Fifth-ranked Kentucky men’s tennis (18-2, 9-0 SEC) completed the sweep of its two-match Southeastern Conference road trip on Sunday, downing No. 56 Ole Miss (9-11, 2-7 SEC) 4-2 at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Complex in Oxford, Miss. The Wildcats took the doubles point, along with singles wins from Jaden Weekes, Jack Loutit, and Christophe Clement to secure the victory.
The Cats extended their season-long win streak to 11 matches, the longest for the program since opening the 2023 campaign with 12 consecutive victories. Additionally, Kentucky remains atop the conference standings as the only SEC with an unblemished league record.
The Easter Sunday showdown began with doubles action, where the Cats got off to a slow start. The Rebels held early breaks on all three court before Kentucky powered back into the match. Loutit and partner Taha Baadi were able to recover in their No. 2 doubles match, but eventually fell 6-4. Needing the final two courts to secure the opening point, Weekes and partner Matt Rankin secured their first win as a team in dramatic fashion, recovering from a 4-0 deficit on court three to claim a 7-5 victory.
With the doubles session knotted at one court a piece, a tiebreaker on court one would decide the first point of the dual. No. 23 JJ Mercer and Joshua Lapadat would run away with the decider, clinching the point with a 7-6 (3) win over No. 65 Nikola Slavic and Lukas Engelhardt. The top Wildcat duo clinched their second doubles point in as many matches, defeating a ranked team on both occasions.
In singles, it was Ole Miss who raced to an early lead as well, taking four of the six first sets. The Rebels would even the match at one with a win on court two, as Lapadat fell to John Hallquist Lithen 6-1, 6-2.
Kentucky would respond quickly, as Clement, a sophomore from Montréal, Québec, Canada, claimed his first career SEC victory in style. The Canadian would race to as easy tiebreak win before running away with the second set to a 7-6 (1), 6-1 win on court six.
Ole Miss tied the match for the final time, as No. 36 Baadi fell in a ranked showdown on court one. The fifth-year from Montréal dropped a 7-6 (3), 6-2 decision to No. 62 Slavic.
Loutit would reclaim the lead for the Wildcats, coming back from a first-set deficit to win in a tiebreaker before cruising in the second frame to notch a 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory on court five.
Needing just one more point to clinch the dual, the Wildcats needed a comeback victory from either Weeks or Charlelie Cosnet. Each player lost their first set before rebounding with second set victories, setting off a race to the clincher. Weekes would finish first, claiming a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win on court three and finishing the match in favor of the visitors. Conset’s match would go unfinished, where he was tied at five-all in the deciding set.
Kentucky’s season-long three-match road stretch will continue next week, as the Wildcats head south to Columbia, S.C. to take on No. 20 South Carolina in its last standalone conference weekend. The match from the Carolina Tennis Center is set to begin at 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday, April 5. Live stats and a live stream will be provided by South Carolina Athletics in addition to CrossCourt Cast coverage by Cracked Racquets on the SEC Network+.
RESULTS
No. 5 Kentucky vs. Ole Miss
Doubles
No. 23 Lapadat/Mercer (UK) def. No. 65 Slavic/Engelhardt (OM) 7-6 (3)
Hallquist Lithen/Baker (OM) def. Baadi/Loutit (UK) 6-4
Rankin/Weekes (UK) def. Stromberg/Schlagenhauf (OM) 7-5
Singles
No. 62 Nikola Slavic (OM) def. No. 36 Taha Baadi (UK) 7-6 (3), 6-2
John Hallquist Lithen (OM) def. Joshua Lapadat (UK) 6-1, 6-2
Jaden Weekes (UK) def. Isac Strongberg (OM) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
Charlelie Cosnet (UK) vs. Lukas Engelhardt (OM) 3-6, 6-3, 5-5 (unfinished)
Jack Loutit (UK) def. Noah Schlagenhauf (OM) 7-6 (4), 6-2
Christophe Clement (UK) def. Carson Baker (OM) 7-6 (1), 6-1
Order of Finish:
Doubles— 2, 3, 1*
Singles—2, 6, 1, 5, 3*
For the latest on UK Men’s Tennis, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @UKMensTennis.
