No. 22 Kentucky Hosts No. 3 Ohio State on Wednesday

LEXINGTON, Ky. –  The No. 22 Kentucky (13-7, 6-3 SEC) men’s tennis team will host No. 3 Ohio State on Wednesday at the Boone Tennis Center. First serve is set for 1 p.m.
 
Last weekend, Kentucky went 1-1 with a 7-0 win over LSU and a 4-3 loss to Texas A&M. Although UK lost to the Aggies, three Wildcats – Will Bushamuka, Enzo Wallart and Trey Yates – all earned ranked wins that catapulted them into the latest Oracle ITA rankings.
 
Four Wildcats are currently ranked in the latest ITA rankings, with No. 26 Ryo Matsumura the highest ranked at 19.99 points. Matsumura suffered just his second loss of the season against TAMU and is 14-2 this season. Matsumura is 6-1 against nationally ranked opponents this season.
 
Will Bushamuka shot up from unranked to No. 54 after an impressive two week span. Bushamuka beat the No. 13 ranked player from Mississippi State last week and turned around and took down No. 6 Arthur Rinderknech of TAMU on Sunday, 6-4, 6-0. Bushamuka has won six-straight matches, with four of those coming over ranked opponents.
 
Enzo Wallart moved up to No. 115 after his second ranked win of the season. He beat No. 49 Jordi Arconada, 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 7-5 on Sunday. Wallart defeated No. 116 Alex Brown of No. 7 Illinois earlier this season and is 2-2 against nationally ranked opponents.
 
Trey Yates follows Wallart at No. 116. Yates earned his highest ranked win of his career over No. 25 Valentin Vacherot on Sunday against TAMU, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Yates is 10-5 this season.
 
Ohio State is 18-2 and 5-0 in Big Ten play this season. OSU is on a six match winning streak dating back to March 13, when the Buckeyes took down No. 11 USC, 4-3. OSU’s two losses are to No. 21 Georgia and No. 7 UCLA, and OSU has seven victories over ranked teams, including No. 3 North Carolina and No. 8 Michigan.
 
The Buckeyes have five ranked players – No. 3 Mikael Torpegaard, No. 43 JJ Wolf, No. 71 Kyle Seelig, No. 98 John McNally and No. 123 Martin Joyce. Toregaard and Joyce have spilt time at No. 1, with Joyce at 8-3 and Torpegaard at 7-2 on the top court.
 
After Ohio State, Kentucky will continue with SEC play on Sunday, April 8 at 2 p.m. against Vanderbilt.
 
For more information on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow @UKMensTennis on Twitter or Kentucky Men’s Tennis Team on Facebook.