Oct. 26, 2009
ITA Ohio Valley Regional Draws
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –
Kentucky men’s tennis sophomore Eric Quigley claimed the singles title at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Ohio Valley Regional Championships inside Indiana University’s Indoor Tennis Center in Bloomington, Ind., Monday to automatically advance to next month’s prestigious ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships.
Quigley, the tourney’s seventh seed, defeated Southeastern Conference foe Ryan Lipman of Vanderbilt in straight sets in their regional championship men’s singles final. The Wildcat doubled up the ninth-seeded Commodore 6-3 in the first set. In the second, No. 70 Quigley continued to roll to a 6-2 victory over the VU freshman.
“This is a great result for Eric,” said UK men’s tennis head coach Dennis Emery. “This is a very strong region and he was able to win it with the loss of only one set. Eric played a very aggressive style the entire weekend and he was able to do it with a minimum of errors.”
The Pewee Valley, Ky., native joins a noteworthy group of former Wildcats who have competed at the National Indoors. Last season Bruno Agostinelli played in the Championships, advancing to the consolation final after dropping a first-round match. In 2004, Jesse Witten became the first UK player to advance to the National Indoor singles final. Additionally, current UK associate head coach Cedric Kauffmann advanced to the 1996 Championship semifinals before bowing out.
The nation’s top players will compete in the 2009 National Indoor Championships inside Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center at Yale University, Nov. 5-8. The tourney consists of a 32-man draw that includes each of the 12 regional champions as well as the four semifinalists from the ITA All-American Championships among other selections. Earlier this month, Quigley advanced to the quarterfinals of the singles and doubles draws at the ITA All-American Championships.
Earlier in the day, Quigley and doubles partner Brad Cox fell 8-4 to the nation’s top-ranked duo of Davey Sandgren and J.P. Smith from Tennessee in a regional semifinal. The No. 24 Wildcat tandem boasts an 8-3 record this season that includes a quarterfinal run at the All-American Championships earlier this month.
Quigley and Emery will be available to media Thursday at 2:15 p.m. ET inside the Memorial Coliseum media room after UK Hoops head coach Matthew Mitchell addresses reporters during his squad’s media day.
UK travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., this weekend to participate in the Crimson Tide Fall Championships at the University of Alabama.
Stay tuned to UKathletics.com for all of the latest Kentucky men’s tennis news.
October 26, 2009
Bloomington, Ind. (IU Tennis Center)
ITA Ohio Valley Regional
Main Draw Singles – Final
#70 Eric Quigley (UK) def. Ryan Lipman (VU) 6-3, 6-2
Main Draw Doubles – Semifinal
#1 Davey Sandgren / J.P. Smith (UT) def. #24 Brad Cox / Eric Quigley (UK) 8-4
UK Hoops Media Day Schedule – Thursday, October 29
1:00-1:45 p.m. – Registration/FREE Lunch in Media Room of Memorial Coliseum
1:45-2:15 p.m. – News Conference with Matthew Mitchell
2:15-2:25 p.m. – News Conference with Eric Quigley and Dennis Emery
2:30 p.m. – Player Interviews on women’s practice court – JCC
3 p.m. – Practice (media allowed to attend entire practice)
