No. 21 Kentucky (15-10, 6-5) begins its post-season run Thursday when the Cats meet Mississippi State (6-13, 1-10) on the opening day of the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. The match is set for 12:30 p.m. EDT at Vanderbilt?s Brownlee O. Currey Tennis Center.

Kentucky enters the tournament as the sixth seed, while Mississippi State took the eleventh seed. The Cats defeated the Dogs by a 5-2 count in Starkville during the opening weekend of conference play. Kentucky earned a first-round bye at the 2003 SEC Tournament in Knoxville, where they defeated Alabama before falling to Georgia in the semifinals.