Feb. 14, 2009
LEXINGTON, Ky. –
The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team earned its second win of the day while defeating a ranked opponent for the second time this season. The No. 31 Wildcats overwhelmed No. 64 Indiana 6-1 at the Boone Tennis Center Saturday.
The Cats set the tone for the match in doubles action.
On court two, the freshman tandem of Graeme Dyce and Eric Quigley found themselves down a break early at 3-0 to IU’s Santiago Gruter and Jeremy Langer. The Wildcats broke back to even the match at 3-3. The teams held serve while splitting the next four games for a 5-5 score. In game 11, the Cats broke the Hoosiers a second time, then held serve for a 7-5 advantage. UK later served out the match for an 8-6 victory.
The No. 13 UK pairing of senior Bruno Agostinelli and sophomore Brad Cox earned a break against Indiana’s Lachlan Ferguson and Stephen Vogl in game five for a 3-2 advantage on court one. The Wildcats held serve throughout the match and broke IU a second time in game nine en route to an 8-4 win and spotted the Cats a 1-0 lead.
Senior Shane Collins and sophomore Alberto Gonzalez fell behind early on court three to IU’s Peter Antons and Maxime Armengaud. The Cats earned a break to narrow the Hoosier lead to 6-4 but could not hold on as IU closed out the match 8-4.
In singles action, No. 37 Quigley kept the momentum rolling on court three against Indiana’s Guy Kubi. Quigley used and early break to go up 3-1 in the first set before closing it out 6-2. In the second set, Quigley again jumped out early and steamrolled through the set yielding just one game for a 6-1 decision. The first-year’s win put UK up 2-0.
Dyce took on Armengaud on court four. The foes battled back and forth in a tight first set. Dyce led 3-1 early but the Hoosier tied it at three. After trading several games between them, Dyce broke at 6-5 to clinch the set 7-5. In set two, the Wildcat allowed his opponent one game before taking the match 6-1 in the second.
With UK up 3-0, all eyes turned to court one as No. 4 Agostinelli faced Ferguson. In set one, Agostinelli’s break in game five was the difference in his 6-4 set win. Agostinelli continued the theme of the afternoon by rolling in the second set 6-1 to give UK its fourth match point and the team victory.
On court two, Cox cruised to a 6-3 first set win over Indiana’s Gruter. But the second set was a different animal as both athletes battled to knot the set up a 6-6. In the tiebreaker, Cox earned a couple min-breaks for a 7-4 finish, earning the Cats their fifth point of the evening.
Indiana got on the scoreboard on court five. UK’s Gonzalez won the first set 6-3 over IU’s Langer, but the Hoosier rallied in the second set to win 6-2 and force a third-set tiebreak. Langer continued his momentum into the breaker winning 10-4 and giving the Hoosiers a point.
The final match of the day was a server’s battle on court six. Wildcat junior Alex Lambropoulos earned the only break of service against IU’s Will Kendall in game nine of set one to go up 5-4 and then served out the set win. In set two, both players battled back and forth, with neither gaining a two-game advantage until the set was decided. Lambropoulos broke Kendall in game 11 of set two to take a 6-5 lead and then served out the match for the win.
“I thought it was a really good win for us, Indiana has a really good young team,” UK head coach Dennis Emery said. “I think they will get better throughout the year and this win will look better at the end of the year. I thought we looked athletic today. We bounced back from a loss at Virginia and I think we should gain a lot of confidence from this win.
“I thought winning the doubles today was huge for us. Dyce and Quigley looked much better today in doubles than they have in the past after a slow start they have really got it together.”
With the win Kentucky improves to 6-2 on the year. IU falls to 5-6 after the defeat.
The Wildcats’ next match-up is against No. 8 Tennessee on Sat. Feb. 21 in a non-conference contest in Knoxville, Tenn.
Please visit UKathletics.com for all of the latest men’s tennis news.
#31 Kentucky 6, #64 Indiana 1
Singles
1. #4 Bruno Agostinelli (UK) def. Lachlan Ferguson (IU) 6-4, 6-1
2. Brad Cox (UK) def. Santiago Gruter (IU) 6-3, 7-6(4)
3. #37 Eric Quigley (UK) def. Guy Kubi (IU) 6-2, 6-1
4. Graeme Dyce (UK) def. Maxim Armengaud (IU) 7-5, 6-1
5. Jeremy Langer (IU) def. Alberto Gonzalez (UK) 3-6, 6-2, 1-0(4)
6. Alex Lambropoulos (UK) def. Will Kendall (IU) 6-4, 7-5
Order of finish: 3, 4, 1*, 2, 5, 6
Doubles
1. #13 Bruno Agostinelli / Brad Cox (UK) def. Lachlan Ferguson / Stephen Vogl (IU) 8-4
2. Graeme Dyce / Eric Quigley (UK) def. Santiago Gruter / Jeremy Langer (IU) 8-6
3. Peter Antons / Maxime Armengaud (IU) def. Shane Collins / Alberto Gonzalez (UK) 8-4
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
