Kentucky Wins Border Battle in Opening Match of SEC Play

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky (8-3, 1-0 SEC) began Southeastern Conference play against Tennessee (6-5, 0-1 SEC ) on Saturday afternoon, besting its border rival, 5-2, in a battle at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex.  

The day began with doubles play, where on court three, Martin Breysach and Charlelie Cosnet raced to a quick 6-1 defeat of Tennessee’s Alejandro Moreno and Jose Garcia, putting the Wildcats halfway to the doubles point. The remaining doubles courts stayed within points of each other until ultimately Nicolas Arseneault and Jaden Weekes clinched a 6-4 victory on court two, putting the Wildcats up 1-0 over the Volunteers. Kentucky has now won the doubles point in seven consecutive matches. Court one’s match was abandoned with Kentucky leading 5-4, where No. 23 Jack Loutit and Eli Stephenson were two points from victory against Tennessee’s Dragos Cazacu and Piotr Siekanowicz.  

Singles play featured a fair share of three-set matches, close rallies and tiebreaks. Early on, No. 91 Cosnet defeated Kobierski on court four to claim the first singles point of the day, putting the Wildcats up 2-0. Despite dropping the first set 6-3, No. 16 Stephenson won the second set 6-1 on court two. Stretching the match to a third, the junior battled back from being down 2-5 to clinch it in a seven-point tiebreak 7-6(3) over Tennessee’s Cazacu. No. 38 Loutit and Tennessee’s Garcia split the first two sets at 6-4 apiece, forcing a third set where Garcia defeated Loutit in a close 7-5 result, giving the Volunteers their first point of the day. Court one saw an exciting, ranked showdown, where No. 94 Nicolas Arseneault decisively claimed the first set 6-0 but dropped the following second set in a seven-point tiebreak 7-6(7). In the third, the freshman regained momentum, winning 6-3, earning the fourth point to clinch the overall match for the Wildcats at 4-1.  

The remaining singles courts played out. Mikael Arseneault dropped the first set 1-6 but claimed the second 6-2, thus the match played out in a 10-point tiebreak where M. Arseneault topped Tennessee’s Skierkier 12-10. Play concluded with Matt Rankin facing Tennessee’s Itsusaki, each taking a set 6-2, with the match ultimately ending in a 10-point tiebreak in favor of Tennessee 10-8. As a result, the match ended in a 5-2 result in favor of the homestanding Wildcats.

After dropping a close match against No. 25 Illinois earlier this month, snapping its 34-match home winning streak, Kentucky looks to resume its home court win streak after a positive result today. The Wildcats also extended their home winning streak in SEC Regular Season SEC play to 19 matches.

Kentucky will close out the opening weekend of conference play against No. 16 Texas A&M at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex on Monday, February 23, at 2 p.m. ET. Admission is free to the public. 

For the latest on UK Men’s Tennis, follow the Wildcats on X and Instagram at @UKMensTennis. 

Kentucky vs. Tennessee 

Doubles Results 

1.       No. 23 Stephenson/Loutit (UK) vs. Cazacu/Siekanowicz (UT) 5-4 (unfinished) 

2.       N. Arseneault/Weekes (UK) def. Muza/Itsusaki (UT) 6-4 

3.       Breysach/Cosnet (UK) def. Moreno/Garcia (UT) 6-1 

Order of finish: 3, 2 

Singles Results 

1.       No. 94 Nicolas Arseneault (UK) def. No. 58 Alejandro Moreno (UT) 6-0, 6(7)-7, 6-3 

2.       No. 16 Eli Stephenson (UK) def. Dragos Cazacu (UT) 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(3) 

3.       Jose Garcia (UT) def. No. 38 Jack Loutit (UK) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 

4.       No. 91 Charlelie Cosnet (UK) def. Jan Kobierski (UT) 6-4, 7-5 

5.       Mikael Arseneault (UK) def. Boruch Skierkier (UT) 1-6, 6-2, [12-10]

6.       Shion Itsusaki (UT) def. Matt Rankin (UK) 6-2, 2-6, [10-8]

Order of finish: 4, 2, 3, 1, 5, 6