March 4, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Kentucky men’s tennis senior Bruno Agostinelli collected a second consecutive Southeastern Conference Player of the Week honor on Tuesday for his performance in the Wildcats road win at No. 25 Notre Dame.
The weekly honor is the third of Agostinelli’s career at Kentucky after being recognized last week and on Feb. 20, 2007 as the last Wildcat to win the weekly conference honor.
The UK captain is the nation’s second-ranked singles player in the latest rankings released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) on Tuesday. It is the highest standing for any Wildcat since Jesse Witten was ranked first in the nation in 2003. In doubles, Agostinelli is also ranked with sophomore Brad Cox at 20th in the nation.
Agostinelli carries a 6-1 singles record this season with three wins over top-30 opponents all away from home including No. 9 John-Patrick Smith, No. 18 Brett Helgeson and No. 26 Bruno Rosa of Rice at the No. 1 slot. Overall this season, Agostinelli has compiled a 24-7 record this year with three tournament final appearances and an upset of then-No.1 Oleksandr Nedovyesov of Oklahoma State.
Last week in South Bend, Ind., Agostinelli clinched the team victory for the second-straight match on court one. He led early 3-0 in the first set en route to a 6-3 win over Helgeson. In the second, it was Helgeson who capitalized early with a 6-2 victory to force a third set. Agostinelli regained control of the match in the deciding set with a 5-1 lead before closing out the match at 6-3.
In doubles action against the Irish, Agostinelli and Cox knocked off the No. 13 team of Helgeson and Tyler Davis to clinch the doubles point. The tandem is 3-2 at No. 1 doubles this season having already beaten the nation’s No. 1 team of Jonas Berg and Bram tenBerge at Ole Miss in January. Last fall, Agostinelli and Cox won their first title at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships.
The Wildcats continue their road schedule with a third-straight match away from home against a top-25 team when they travel to No. 9 Florida for a 3:00 p.m. ET Friday match against the Gators.
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