Kentucky Men’s Tennis Returns Home to Face No. 7 Illinois

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky (6-3) men’s tennis team will continue nonconference play on Sunday when UK takes on No. 7 Illinois on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Boone Tennis Center. Live scoring can be found here.
 
The Wildcats last  competed two weeks ago, when Kentucky fell to Duke on the road, 4-1. Austin Hussey got the only win for the Wildcats in the match, beating Robert Levine, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Previously, UK knocked off Virginia, handing them just their sixth home loss since 2006.
 
UK has two ranked Wildcats in the latest ITA rankings and one ranked doubles duo. Ryo Matsumura is the highest ranked Wildcat at No. 63. Matsumura started the year with five straight wins, with two of those wins coming over No. 17 Notre Dame and No. 10 Oklahoma State. Matsumura is 1-0 as the No. 1 singles player and 4-1 on the second court
 
Enzo Wallart is the other ranked Wildcat at No. 115. Wallart is a perfect 6-0 this spring season, with wins on the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 court. Two of his wins came over players from ranked teams and he has only lost two sets so far this season.
 
Wallart joins Trey Yates on doubles ranking list at No. 54.
 
Illinois has faced eight-straight ranked opponents and is 5-3 in that span and 6-3 overall. Four members of the Fighting Illini team are ranked. Aleks Vukic is the highest ranked at No. 23, while Zeke Clark sits at No. 83. Aron Hiltzik is No. 97, and Alex Brown is No. 116. Brown recently earned Big Ten Athlete of the Week after going 4-0 against No. 23 California and No. 5 Stanford.  Brown has not lost in doubles this season.
 
Kentucky will continue nonconference play next week at Oklahoma on March 2.
 
For more information on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow @UKMensTennis on Twitter or Kentucky Men’s Tennis Team on Facebook.