Wildcats Round Out Regular Season on Road
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LEXINGTON, Ky. – The 20th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats men’s tennis team will round out the regular season with a pair of road matches leading into the Southeastern Conference tournament next week.
UK (17-7, 6-4 SEC) begins its last regular season weekend facing the Florida Gators in Gainesville, Fla., on Friday, April 15 at 5 p.m. ET before traveling to Auburn, Ala., for the regular season finale on Sunday, April 17, at 2 p.m. ET.
Kentucky enters the weekend after splitting four matches over the past week. After dropping a 4-2 decision to the fifth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, Kentucky swept Xavier 4-0. The Cats then bounced back with a 4-3 upset of No. 10 Texas A&M, 4-3, before falling to LSU, 4-2, last Sunday.
Freshman Ryotaro Matsumura led the way for the Wildcats with an incredible week, going 4-0 in singles play with three ranked wins. The performance was good for his second SEC Player of the Week honor.
The Wildcats boast two ranked players following last week’s rankings. Sophomore William Bushamuka sits at No. 31 in the country, while Matsumura jumped to No. 35. Junior Nils Ellefsen and freshman Enzo Wallart make up the No. 71 doubles tandem in the country.
Florida enters Friday ranked thirteenth in the country, with a record of 13-6 on the season while going 8-2 in Southeastern Conference play. The Gators have three ranked singles players in Diego Hidalgo (13), Elliott Orkin (38) and Chase Perez-Blanco (107). Hidalgo pairs with Gordon Watson to make up the country’s best doubles pairing, while the pairing of Orkin and Maxx Lipman comes in at No. 62.
Auburn (11-12, 1-9 SEC) has two ranked singles players in Marko Krickovic (101) and Maxime Hinnisdaels (113).
After the weekend’s action, UK will head to Columbia, South Carolina for the SEC tournament, hosted by the University of South Carolina, beginning on April 20.
For more information on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow @UKMensTennis on Twitter or Kentucky Men’s Tennis Team on Facebook.
