LEXINGTON, Ky. ? The No. 47 University of Kentucky men?s tennis team fell 4-3 to border-rival No. 69 Indiana Tuesday night in Bloomington, Ind. The difference in the match was the Hoosiers? ability to win doubles tiebreakers and the only singles decisive third set.
The Wildcats and Hoosiers opened in doubles competition with all three matches going extra games. The No. 21 tandem of junior Bruno Agostinelli and freshman Brad Cox earned a service break to win its match 9-7 at the No. 1 slot.
UK senior duo of Marcus Sundh and Will Ward played at the No. 2 position, while freshman Will Beck and sophomore Alex Lambropoulos teamed up at the No. 3 spot. Both matches went to tiebreakers after dueling to eight games apiece. However, the Wildcats came up short in the decisive tiebreakers falling 7-3 at No.2 and 7-1 at No.3, yielding the doubles point to the Hoosiers.
In singles play UK freshman Alberto Gonzalez finished first with a convincing 6-1, 6-2 victory over Indiana?s Santiago Gruter at No. 5 to even the dual match at 1-1. From that point on, the teams continued to trade wins back-and-forth until the decisive singles match.
In the third singles match to finish, No. 31 Bruno Agostinelli fought off Hoosier Phillip Eilers in the No. 2 slot 6-4, 6-4 to force a 2-2 tie. Later freshman Brad Cox continued his strong early-season singles play with a 7-6(3), 6-2 victory at the No. 4 position over Lachlan Ferguson of Indiana. His victory knotted the team score at 3-3.
The match would be settled in a three-set battle at No. 1 singles between Ward and Indiana?s No. 86 Thomas Richter. Penciled in at No. 1 singles for the first time this season, Ward earned his position by knocking off No. 98 David Rosenfeld of Miami his last time out in straight sets. After losing the first set to Richter 6-2, the Auckland, New Zealand native fought back to win the second 6-3. The players then battled to 5-5 in the third, setting up a dramatic ending to the closely-contested match. Richter was able to break Ward?s serve and clinch the match at 7-5 to earn Indiana a hard-fought victory.
The Wildcats fall to 4-2 on the season while the Hoosiers improve to 5-1.
Kentucky travels to Charlottesville, Va., Friday to battle top-ranked Virginia. After the duel with the Cavaliers, the Cats will stay in town to face the No. 51 Harvard Crimson Saturday on a neutral court as part of a three-team dual match weekend.
#69 Indiana 4, #47 Kentucky 3
Singles
1. #86 Thomas Richter (IU) def. Will Ward (UK) 2-6, 6-3, 7-5
2. #31 Bruno Agostinelli (UK) def. Phillip Eilers (IU) 6-4, 6-4
3. Dara McLoughlin (IU) def. Marcus Sundh (UK) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2
4. Brad Cox (UK) def. Lachlan Ferguson (IU) 7-6 (7-3), 6-3
5. Alberto Gonzalez (UK) def. Santiago Gruter (IU) 6-1, 6-2
6. Michael McCarthy (IU) def. Shane Collins (UK) 6-2, 6-3
Doubles
1. #21 Bruno Agostinelli/Brad Cox (UK) def. Lachlan Ferguson/Thomas Richter (IU) 9-7
2. Dara McLoughlin/Phillip Eilers (IU) def. Marcus Sundh/Will Ward (UK) 9-8 (7-3)
3. Santiago Gruter/Peter Antons (IU) def. Will Beck/Alex Lambropoulos (UK) 9-8 (7-1)
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (5,6,2,3,4,1)
