Jan. 31, 2009
OXFORD, Miss. –
The 13th-ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis doubles team of senior Bruno Agostinelli and sophomore Brad Cox paired up to defeat the top-ranked doubles team in the country from Ole Miss to win the doubles point Saturday, but the Rebels later won four singles matches to slip past the Cats 4-3 to advance to the second round of the 2009 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Team Indoor Championship in Oxford, Miss.
The No. 13 Wildcat duo of Agostinelli and Cox edged the No. 1 doubles team of Jonas Berg and Bram tenBerge from Ole Miss in a closely-contested duel. The teams battled to eight games all to force a tiebreak. In the tiebreaker, the Wildcats found themselves down 5-1 at the first changeover. But Agostinelli and Cox came back to even the breaker at 6-6 at the second changeover. The Cats continued their momentum by winning three of the next four points to win the tiebreak 9-7 and clinch the match, 9-8.
“I thought those guys (Agostinelli and Cox) did a really good job fighting through three match points and coming back from 5-1 down in the tiebreaker to get the win,” UK head coach Dennis Emery said.
The court one victory gave No. 37 Kentucky a 1-0 match lead over No. 9 Ole Miss after the Cats won a doubles match earlier in the day.
UK’s No. 3 doubles team of junior Alex Lambropoulos and sophomore Will Beck defeated the Rebels team of Chris Thiemann and twin brother Marcel Thiemann 8-5 to give the Wildcats an early advantage.
The match on court two also went to a deciding tiebreaker as UK first-year players Graeme Dyce and Eric Quigley fought Rebels Devin Britton and Otto Sauer. This time the Rebels came out on top with a 7-2 decision in the breaker to win 9-8, setting up court one as the decisive doubles match.
Fourth-ranked Agostinelli finished first in singles action. The UK captain rolled against Britton for a 6-2, 6-4 victory at the number one position to give the Cats a 2-0 match lead.
Court three featured a match-up of ranked players as No. 37 Quigley served against No. 52 Kalle Norberg of Ole Miss. Norberg got the better of Quigley on the Rebels’ home court with a 6-3, 6-3 victory to gain the first Ole Miss match point.
Cox faced Berg for a second time in singles action on court two. Berg, ranked 28th in the nation, took the first set 6-3. In the second set, Cox bounced back to win in extra games, 7-5. The close match continued into the decisive set but the Rebel edged the Wildcat for the 6-4 win.
Ole Miss took the lead in the match after a win on court four. No. 89 tenBerge defeated Dyce 6-3 in the first set. The Wildcat came back to take the second 6-4 to force a decisive set. Dyce jumped out to an early lead in the third but tenBerge fought back to claim the win 6-3.
Kentucky knotted up the match at three after Wildcat freshman Alex Musialek doubled up Rebel Chris Thiemann in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 on court five.
In the final match of the day, sophomore Alberto Gonzalez faced Sauer on court six. The Rebel took the first set 6-2. In the second, Sauer edged Gonzalez 6-4 to clinch the team match point for Ole Miss.
“It was a very good match and a great atmosphere with a big crowd in a nice indoor facility,” said Emery. “This was the type of match we needed to play for us to get better. We had two freshmen play against a ranked junior and senior. Today gave those young guys a lot more experience on the court in tough matches. Ole Miss has an unbelievable home record with just a handful of losses over the past few years, so it is a very tough place to get a win.”
Ole Miss improves to 2-0 this season, while Kentucky falls to 3-1 on the year.
Kentucky will face either No. 27 Wake Forest or No. 17 Rice at Ole Miss on Sunday.
The team that wins both of its matches this weekend will play in the Feb. 13-16 ITA National Team Indoor Championships at the Midtown Tennis Club in Chicago, hosted by the University of Illinois.
Please visit UKathletics.com for live stats and a full recap of Sunday’s action.
#9 Ole Miss 4, # 37 Kentucky 3
Singles
1. #4 Bruno Agostinelli (UK) def. Devin Britton (OM) 6-2, 6-4
2. #28 Jonas Berg (OM) def. Brad Cox (UK) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
3. #52 Kalle Norberg (OM) def. #37 Eric Quigley (UK) 6-3, 6-3
4. #89 Bram tenBerge (OM) def. Graeme Dyce (UK) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
5. Alex Musialek (UK) def. Chris Thiemann (OM) 6-3, 6-3
6. Otto Sauer (OM) def. Alberto Gonzalez (UK) 6-2, 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 6
Doubles
1. #13 Bruno Agostinelli / Brad Cox (UK) def. Jonas Berg / Bram tenBerge (OM) 9-8(7)
2. Devin Britton / Otto Sauer (OM) def. Graeme Dyce / Eric Quigley (UK) 9-8(2)
3. Will Beck / Alex Lambropoulos (UK) def. Chris Thiemann / Marcel Thiemann (OM) 8-5
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
