Men’s Tennis Heads South for Road Matches at Georgia, No. 19 Tennessee
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky men’s tennis will hit the road this weekend, playing back-to-back road matches for the first time this season. The Cats (9-4, 2-1 SEC) will open the weekend in Athens, taking on No. 50 Georgia (7-6, 1-2 SEC) at 2 p.m. ET on Friday, March 7 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. The squad will then travel up Interstate-75 for a rivalry matchup with No. 19 Tennessee (10-5, 1-3 SEC) at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 9 at Barksdale Stadium in Knoxville.
Ranked No. 27 in the latest ITA Computer Rankings, Kentucky heads into the weekend after defeating South Carolina in a rematch of last year’s SEC Tournament championship. The Cats moved to 2-0 in SEC play and 3-3 overall after losing doubles, using singles wins on courts one, two, four, and six to move to 7-0 in home matches this season.
Four Wildcats are currently ranked in singles by the ITA, led by No. 53 Jaden Weekes. No. 70 Antoine Ghibaudo, No. 105 Charlelie Cosnet, and No. 121 Jack Loutit help round out the ranked players in one of the deepest singles lineups in the country.
The Cats are looking for their first win in Athens since 2012, when Kentucky earned the program’s second SEC regular season championship. Georgia enters Friday’s match with a 7-1 home record, featuring a win over No. 16 Tennessee and a lone loss to No. 5 Virginia. Three Bulldogs feature in the top 32 of the ITA Singles Rankings—No. 26 Thomas Paulsell, No. 27 Ryan Colby, and No. 32 Miguel Perez Pena. Paulsell and Colby check in at No. 14 in the ITA Doubles Rankings with No. 23 Freddy Blaydes and Niels Ratiu and No. 47 Miguel Perez Pena and Oscar Pinto Sansano also featuring as ranked pairings.
The matchup with the Vols will be the first top 25 opponent Kentucky has faced since falling to No. 14 Texas A&M at the ITA Indoor National Championships. The Cats are 2-2 this season against ranked opponents. Tennessee is led by Alex Kotzen who ranks No. 29 in singles and No. 11 in doubles alongside Alejandro Moreno. Shunsuke Mitsui also features at No. 25 in the singles rankings. The Cats defeated Tennessee in Lexington last season, clinching a perfect conference record and outright SEC Regular Season title with a 4-3 win over the Vols.
The Cats will return home to the Boone next week, hosting LSU on Thursday, March 13 at 5 p.m. ET and Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 15.
All home matches will be played at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex, and admission is free to the public for all regular season contests. A live stream will be provided for all home matches on UKAthletics.com.
For the latest on UK Men’s Tennis, follow the Wildcats on X and Instagram at @UKMensTennis.
