April 13, 2014
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After dropping a tight doubles point to the No. 15 University of Florida Gators, the No. 14 University of Kentucky men’s tennis team rallied to win on two singles courts, but was unable to complete the comeback in singles as the Wildcats fell to Florida, 4-2, on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon on Senior Day in Lexington.
The Wildcats will be the No. 3 seed in the 2014 Southeastern Conference Tournament to be held next week in Nashville, Tenn., and will be hosted by the Vanderbilt University Commodores. By securing a top-four seed, the Wildcats earned a double-bye and will not see action until Friday.
On Friday morning at 9 a.m. CT, 10 a.m. ET, the Wildcats will play in the quarterfinal round against the No. 6 seed Tennessee or No. 11 Ole Miss. Kentucky beat both Tennessee and Ole Miss in the regular season, with the win over Tennessee coming on the road in Knoxville.
Kentucky lost the doubles court via a tiebreak on court one, as the Wildcats won on court two, but lost on the other two courts to give UF the early 1-0 lead in the match. Tom Jomby and Kevin Lai faced off against Floret Diep and Gordon Watson on court one, and fell in thetiebreak after there were no breaks of serve after all 14 service games in the match.
In singles, Kentucky tied the match at 1-1 when No. 95 Alejandro Gomez was able to solidify a 6-2, 6-1 win on court two to square the match. The win for Gomez on Senior Day was relatively easy, as he broke five times in the match and only dropped serve one time in his win. The win for Gomez was his fifth-straight, as he continues to play well on court two for the Wildcats.
After Florida re-gained the lead at 2-1 with a win on court three, Kevin Lai squared the match at 2-2 with a 6-0, 7-5 win on court four. The sophomore from Taiwan had no problems in the opening set, winning 6-0 before getting ahead at 5-3 in the early part of the second set and had a chance to serve out the match leading 5-3. Lai was then broken, but held for 6-5, where he broke his opponent, No. 82 Elliott Orkin, to win 7-5 in the second set.
After a Florida win on court six, the match then came down to court one, where Florent Deip had a set and a break lead on No. 13 Tom Jomby, leading 6-4, 5-4 and serving for the match. After three deuces, Jomby broke for the first time all match and forced a second-set tiebreak on court one. Jomby then fell in th tiebreak after a back-and-forth affair, and fell, 9-7 after having a set point to force a third set.
Freshman Jerry Lopez dropped the first set, but rallied to force a third set in the only remaining match on court at the time of the clinch. Lopez was up a break at 4-3 in the final set at the time of the clinch and looked destined to win the match there for the Wildcats.
In the nightcap, the Wildcats defeated Murray State with singles wins from Gomez, Pennington, Lopez, Nils Ellefsen, Lai and Maks Gold.
Agate
No. 15 Florida 4, No. 14 Kentucky 2
Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Center – Lexington, Ky.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Match Duration: 3:37
Doubles (Order of finish: 2, 3, 1*)
1- Florent Diep/Gordon Watson (UF) def. No. 20 Tom Jomby/Kevin Lai (UK) 8-7 (5)
2- Beck Pennington/Alejandro Gomez (UK) def. Maxx Lipman/Elliott Orkin (UF) 8-3
3- Michael Alford/Diego Hidalgo (UF) def. Maks Gold/Nils Ellefsen (UK0 8-3
Singles (Order of finish: 2, 3, 5, 6, 1*)
1- No. 120 Florent Diep (UF) def. No. 13 Tom Jomby (UK) 6-4, 7-6 (7)
2- No. 95 Alejandro Gomez (UK) def. No. 106 Gordon Watson (UF) 6-2, 6-1
3- Maxx Lipman (UF) def. No. 112 Beck Pennington (UK) 6-2, 6-4
4- Jerry Lopez (UK) led Diego Hidalgo (UF) 2-6, 6-3, 4-3 (DNF)
5- Kevin Lai (UK) def. No. 82 Elliott Orkin (UF) 6-0, 7-5
6- Michael Alford (UF) def. Grant Roberts (UK) 6-4, 6-2
Agate
No. 14 Kentucky 4, Murray State 0
Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Center – Lexington, Ky.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Match Duration: 0:59
Singles (Order of finish: 5, 6, 1, 3*)
1- No. 95 Alejandro Gomez (UK) def. Adam Taylor (MSU) 6-1, 6-1
2- Max McLean (MSU) led Beck Pennington (UK) 6-3, 0-3 (DNF)
3- Jerry Lopez (UK) def. Nicholas Mitric (MSU) 6-1, 6-0
4- Nils Ellefsen (UK) def. Davis Hess (MSU) 6-0, 3-2 (DNF)
5- Kevin Lai (UK) def. No. Anjan Kashyab (MSU) 6-0, 6-0
6- Maks Gold (UK) def. Mateo Barroetavena (MSU) 6-1, 6-0
For continuing coverage of UK men’s tennis, log on to UKathletics.com.
