April 24, 2014
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team had four players that were named all-Southeastern Conference, the SEC office announced on Thursday afternoon.
Headlining the awards for Kentucky was senior Tom Jomby, who was named First Team All-SEC for the second-straight season. Jomby, who was the highest-ranked singles player in the SEC for a majority of the season, racked up over 15 singles wins on court one this year, including over 14 wins over players ranked in the top-50 of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings. Jomby was the clinching match in Kentucky’s marquee win this season, as the Wildcats knocked off No. 1 Ohio State 4-1 in April.
Kentucky had two players that were named Second Team All-SEC in senior Alejandro Gomez and sophomore Beck Pennington, who were the two players that ran courts two and three for the Wildcats. Gomez, who has been fantastic in the last month of the season, only dropping one singles and doubles match on court two the entire month of April, joins Pennington as earning his first-career All-SEC honor. Gomez went 6-1 in his last seven matches against players ranked in the top-100 of the ITA rankings and 2-0 against players in the top 50.
Pennington, the sophomore from Bowling Green, Ky., went 8-0 in SEC action to start out the conference season and was joined by Gomez on court two for doubles, where they did not drop a doubles match in the regular season in the month of April. They combined to go 13-5 overall in doubles and 9-2 in the SEC on court two as a pair. As a singles player, Pennington has four wins over players ranked in the top-75 of the ITA rankings. He also along with Jomby and Gomez won his singles match in straight sets to cap off the win over the top-ranked Buckeyes.
Also earning his first-career All-SEC honor was freshman Jerry Lopez, who earned All-Freshman honors. Lopez finished the season 15-7 overall and collected a winning record in singles of 6-3 in the SEC. The Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, native clinched Kentucky’s wins over No. 8 Texas A&M (4-0), No. 35 South Carolina (4-2), No. 53 Arkansas (4-1) and No. 72 LSU (4-2), all as a freshman. Lopez did not lose a regular season match in the month of April, going 5-0 in those two months. He finished the regular season 3-1 in three-set matches.
2014 Southeastern Conference Awards
First Team All-SEC
Danill Proskura, Alabama
Florent Diep, Florida
Garrett Brasseaux, Georgia
Austin Smith, Georgia
Nathan Pasha, Georgia
Tom Jomby, Kentucky
Nik Scholtz, Ole Miss
Mikelis Liebietis, Tennessee
Hunter Reese, Tennessee
Harrison Adams, Texas A&M
Shane Vinsant, Texas A&M
Gonzales Austin, Vanderbilt
Second Team All-SEC
Becker O’Shaughnessey, Alabama
Daniel Cochrane, Auburn
Lukas Ollert, Auburn
Maxx Lipman, Florida
Gordon Watson, Florida
Alejandro Gomez, Kentucky
Beck Pennington, Kentucky
Chris Simpson, LSU
Florian Lakat, Mississippi State
Andrew Adams, South Carolina
Jeremy Efferding, Texas A&M
Ryan Lipman, Vanderbilt
All-Freshman Team
Nikko Madregallejo, Alabama
Johan den Toom, Arkansas
Maxx Lipman, Florida
Elliott Orkin, Florida
Jerry Lopez, Kentucky
Justin Butsch, LSU
Florian Lakat, Mississippi State
Andrew Schafer, South Carolina
Coach of the Year
Steve Denton, Texas A&M
Player of the Year
Nik Scholtz, Ole Miss
Freshman of the Year
Florian Lakat, Mississippi State
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Daniil Proskura Alabama
Kentucky continues to await its fait for the NCAA Tournament. The 2014 NCAA Men’s Tennis Selection Show will be on Tuesday, April 29 at 5 p.m. ET on NCAASports.com. The Wildcats were No. 14 in this week’s ITA rankings. The top 16 teams in the final rankings will host the First and Second Rounds at their home site for the right to go to the Sweet 16 and NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga.
For continuing coverage of UK men’s tennis, log on to UKathletics.com.
