Sept. 18, 2008
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team opens its fall schedule at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships, hosted by the University of Georgia, at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens Ga., this weekend.
Georgia’s Southern Intercollegiate Championships is entering its 41st year as the South’s oldest recurring tournament. The Championships are comprised of three singles divisions and two doubles divisions. The top two singles divisions play a 64-man draw, while the third division features a 60-man bracket. This year the tourney features 179 players from 32 schools. Play runs throughout this weekend in all of the draws with the finals contested on Monday.
UK senior Bruno Agostinelli begins the fall season in the 19th slot of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) pre-season top-125 singles rankings. Agostinelli ended 2008 ranked 28th in the nation after qualifying for the NCAA individual championships in both singles and doubles after leading the Wildcats back to the team tournament.
Agostinelli and NCAA doubles partner, sophomore Brad Cox, also open the tournament season in the top-20. Cox and Agostinelli rank 15th in the ITA preseason top 50 doubles rankings. The pair finished 2008 ranked 27th in the nation.
With tournament action beginning this weekend, UK head coach Dennis Emery announces his 2008-09 schedule. Beginning this autumn, the Wildcats hit the courts in eight tournaments culminating at the SEC Indoors in January at the Boone Tennis Center in Lexington. The Wildcats’ arduous spring schedule features matches against 20 teams listed in the final team rankings last season, including match-ups against six of the top 10 teams from a year ago.
UK will host two tournaments at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex during the 2008-09 campaign. Kentucky hosts the ITA Southeast (Region III) Indoor tournament Oct. 16-20 before entertaining conference foes at the SEC Indoor tournament Jan. 16-19.
Last season, the Wildcats capped off a successful season at No. 40 in the final ITA team rankings. The ranking continued a streak of being among the top-60 teams in the nation at the end of the season for the 25th consecutive year, all under the direction of Emery.
In the 2008 NCAA tourney, the Wildcats fell to No. 28 Virginia Tech 4-0 in their NCAA first-round match at the University of Tennessee. The Cats finished the season with a 12-16 overall record including wins over several ranked teams in the deepest tennis conference in the nation.
Kentucky lost the services of two-time captain Marcus Sundh and departed senior Will Ward, but the future of the program looks strong with the return of Agostinelli and Cox and a national top-five freshman recruiting class according to TennisRecruiting.net.
Since 1987 Kentucky has made a total 19 NCAA appearances, including a string of 13 consecutive bids, all with Emery at the helm. The Wildcat coach claims the third-most tournament berths among active coaches today. After 26 seasons at Kentucky, Emery has guided his Wildcat teams to the NCAA quarterfinals on three occasions: in 1988, 1992 and most recently 2002. The Cats have also advanced to the round of 16 five times in addition to the three `elite eight’ appearances.
Stay tuned to UKathletics.com for recaps of weekend tournament action.
