March 13, 2009
LEXINGTON, Ky. –
Playing in its Southeastern Conference home opener, the Kentucky men’s tennis team cruised to a 6-1 victory over visiting Arkansas at Boone Tennis Center on Friday.
UK (9-4, 1-2 SEC) opened the match by winning the doubles point. On court one, the No. 20 team of Bruno Agostinelli and sophomore Brad Cox quickly defeated Arkansas’ Chris Nott and Dmitry Lebedev 8-2. The UK tandem of sophomore Alberto Gonzalez and freshman Alex Musialek clinched the point on court three dispatching Razorbacks Tyler Tarnasky and Taylor King 8-3.
In singles, UK stretched its lead to 2-0 as No.99 Eric Quigley doubled up No. 120 Matt Hogan of Arkansas on court three, 6-3, 6-3, for his seventh-straight victory.
Arkansas (6-7, 0-3) got on the scoreboard with a victory on court one. No. 2 Agostinelli took the first set from No. 15 Blake Strode 6-4 but the Razorback reversed the score in the second set to force a deciding set. The thrilling third set went to a tiebreaker and Strode was able to come up with the 7-6 victory.
On court two Cox won a marathon three-set match with each set going extra games. Cox edged Arkansas’ Nott 7-6 in the first set but the Razorback won the second 7-5 to force the final set. In the third, Cox slipped past the Razorback in a tiebreaker 8-6 to take the final set 7-6. The win gave UK a 3-1 advantage.
Musialek scored a come-from-behind victory on court four over Lebedev. The Razorback took the first set 7-6. Musialek came back to take the second in another tiebreaker. In the third, the freshman jumped out to an early break at 3-1 and maintained the lead through the set to win 6-4 and clinch the team match point for UK.
UK freshman Graeme Dyce took the match on court five over Tarnasky. Dyce won the first set 6-3 before winning the final two games of the second set for a 7-5 victory.
On court six, Gonzalez defeated Nikolas Zogaj for the Cats’ final point of the night. The sophomore took the first set 6-2 and followed that up with a 6-3 win in the second set.
UK battles No. 41 LSU and Eastern Kentucky on Sunday at Boone Tennis Center. The match with the Tigers is slated for noon while the contest against the Colonels is at 6:00 p.m.
Please visit UKathletics.com for all of the latest Kentucky men’s tennis news.
#21 Kentucky 6, #53 Arkansas 1
Singles
1. #15 Blake Strode (UA) def. #2 Bruno Agostinelli (UK), 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(0)
2. Brad Cox (UK) def. Chris Nott (UA), 7-6(6), 5-7, 7-6(6)
3. #99 Eric Quigley (UK) def. #120 Matt Hogan (UA), 6-3, 6-3
4. Alex Musialek (UK) def. Dmitry Lebedev (UA), 6-7, 7-6(4), 6-4*
5. Graeme Dyce (UK) def. Tyler Tarnasky (UA), 6-3, 7-5
6. Alberto Gonzalez (UK) def. Nikolas Zogaj (UA), 6-2, 6-3
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2, 4*, 5, 6
Doubles
1. #20 Bruno Agostinelli / Brad Cox (UK) def. Dmitry Lebedev / Chris Nott (UA), 8-2
2. #60 Matt Hogan / Blake Strode (UA) led Graeme Dyce / Eric Quigley (UK), 6-5, susp.
3. Alberto Gonzalez / Alex Musialek (UK) def. King/Tarnasky (UA), 8-3
Order of Finish: 1, 3
