Lexington, Ky. ? The No. 21 Kentucky men?s tennis team dropped a tightly contested match to No. 15 Florida 4-3 Sunday at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center. The loss moved the Cats’ record to 15-7 (6-4 Southeastern Conference) as they enter the final week of regular-season action.
Kentucky fell behind early 1-0 when UF won all three doubles matches. At the No. 1 spot in the lineup, Florida?s team of Stefan Tell and Vladimir Obradovic defeated UK?s team of senior Alex Hume and sophomore Marcus Sundh 8-2. The Gators? clinched the point when Chris Brandi and Greg Ouellette upended UK?s duo of senior Nate Emge and junior Greg Johnstone 8-3.
In singles action, Florida clinched the point by winning three out of the first four contests. UF picked up victories at the No. 2, 3 and 6 spots. The Gators claimed the match at the No. 6 position when Ryan Sherry defeated freshman Greg Anderson 6-1, 7-5.
Despite the match belonging to Florida, UK fought hard to win three contests. Senior Carey Rubin recorded UK?s first win with a three-set victory over Tell. Tell took the first set 1-6, before Rubin rallied back to win the next two 6-4, 6-2.
No. 56 Hume recorded his 27th victory of the season by winning in three sets over No. 65 Obradovic. Hume, a native of Alexandria, Va., dropped the first set 5-7, before rallying to win the next two sets 6-3, 11-9.
Sundh wrapped up the Cats? winning ways by taking the final match of the day over UF?s Brandi. Sundh jumped ahead 6-2 in the first set before dropping the second set 4-6. The Stockholm, Sweden, native outlasted Brandi 7-5 in the final set for his team-leading 28th victory.
?Florida is just a solid veteran team that was ranked No. 1 earlier this year,? head coach Dennis Emery said. ?We dug ourselves a hole early and they did a good job of getting the much needed three-set win at No. 3. Our team really fought hard today. We need to bounce back and play well in this last week of the regular season.
?It really was amazing how close all the matches were today and how thin the margin was between winning and losing each match,? Emery said.
The Cats will return to the courts on Wednesday when they host No. 7 Illinois at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center. Last season, UK captured one of its biggest wins of the season beating the then No. 2 Illini in Champaign, Ill. Fans can check ukathletics.com for live stats and a recap following the match?s conclusion.
No. 15 UF def. No. 22 UK 4-3
Doubles
1.Tell/Obradovic (UF) def. Hume/Sundh (UK) – 8-2
2.Brandi/Ouellette (UF) def. Emge/Johnstone (UK) – 8-3
3.Sherry/Briceno (UF) def. Agostinelli/Hume (UK) -8-4
Singles
1.Alex Hume (UK) def. Vladimir Obradovic (UF) – 5-7, 6-3, 11-9
2.Greg Ouellette (UF) def. Bruno Agostinelli (UK) – 6-4, 6-2
3.Nestor Briceno (UF) def. Nate Emge (UK) – 6-1, 2-6, 6-2
4.Carey Rubin (UK) def. Stefan Tell (UF) – 1-6, 6-4, 6-2
5.Marcus Sundh (UK) def. Chris Brandi (UF) – 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
6.Ryan Sherry (UF) def. Greg Anderson (UK) – 6-1, 7-5
