LEXINGTON, Ky. ? The No. 37 University of Kentucky men?s tennis team will meet No. 30 Virginia Tech in the first round of the Knoxville, Tenn., NCAA regional with first serve scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET Saturday. The winner of the match advances to a second-round match-up in Knoxville against either No. 8 Tennessee or No. 69 Furman on Sunday.
The Wildcats (12-15) go into battle with their highest ranking of the season at No. 37. Kentucky last played in the Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinals, coming up short against No. 5 Ole Miss 4-0, after beating No. 35 Auburn 4-2 in the opening round in Fayetteville, Ark.
Bruno Agostinelli leads the Cats into the post-season. The junior is currently ranked in the top-25 in both singles and doubles. Agostinelli stands at No. 20 in singles while he and freshman doubles partner Brad Cox are ranked 22nd in the nation. The All-SEC First Team member has a 22-13 record this season including 14 victories against ranked opponents at No.1 singles. As a tandem, Agostinelli and Cox stand at 15-11 including an 8-4 ledger against the SEC.
Playing one of the toughest schedules in the country, the Wildcats battled 15 NCAA tournament teams and 21 ranked squads this year. Kentucky finished its schedule strong going 6-6 over the last 12 matches of the season. All six losses came against teams ranked in the top-30, while four of the Cats? victories were over top-40 squads during the dozen-game stretch.
?We haven?t played Virginia Tech in my 26 years here,? said UK head coach Dennis Emery. ?We have been trying to schedule them for a regular-season match over the last few years, so it is ironic that we meet them in the NCAA first round. It should be a fun match.?
Virginia Tech (15-8) from the Atlantic Coast Conference comes into the tournament after a 4-2 loss to No. 28 Wake Forest in the conference quarterfinals. The Hokies defeated then No. 69 Clemson 4-3 in the first round of the 2008 ACC Championships. This year marks the eighth time in school history that Virginia Tech has made a tournament appearance. Last season, the Hokies fell to Old Dominion 4-3 at the Charlottesville, Va., regional in the first round. The Cats hold a 5-2 record all-time against the Hokies.
No. 45 Albert Larregola leads Virginia Tech at No. 1 singles this season with a 27-14 record. Junior Nicolas Delgado de Robles has been ranked this season while playing at No. 2 singles. He was a finalist at the Wilson/ITA Mideast Region tournament in the fall and advanced to the Round of 16 at the ITA National Indoor Championships.
?Virginia Tech has developed into a really strong ACC program in recent years,? said Emery. ?They have a good, young coach who just does a great job there.?
Since 1987 Kentucky has made a total 19 NCAA appearances, including a string of 13 consecutive bids, all under the direction of Emery. The Wildcat coach claims the third-most tournament berths among active coaches today. In his 26 seasons at Kentucky, Emery has guided his Wildcat teams to the NCAA quarterfinals on three occasions: in 1988, 1992 and most recently 2002. UK has advanced to the round of 16 eight times, including the three ?elite eight? runs. Kentucky?s last post-season appearance was a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Wake Forest in a 2006 first round match at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va.
Host Tennessee faces Furman in the other regional match-up. The eighth-seeded Volunteers and No. 69 Paladins are scheduled to take the courts the Saturday at 11 a.m. ET. The winner of the Hokies-Wildcats match will meet the victor of the Volunteers-Paladins contest on the UT Varsity Tennis Courts at 2:00 p.m. ET Sunday. The regional winner will advance to play in the NCAA Team Championships in Tulsa, Okla., May 16-21.
Live stats will be available on the men?s tennis schedule page and a full recap of Saturday?s match will be available on UKathletics.com.
