April 8, 2010

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A day after claiming its fifth win of the season against a top-16 opponent, the University of Kentucky men’s tennis team hits the road in the Southeastern Conference for the final time this season, facing No. 51 LSU on Friday at 3 p.m. ET and No. 59 Arkansas on Sunday at 12 p.m. ET.

Kentucky (18-7, 5-3 SEC) is fresh off a key mid-week 4-3 win over No. 13 Illinois on Wednesday. The win gave the Wildcats five victories this season against teams ranked in the top 16. It’s a significant accomplishment that could help propel Kentucky into the position of hosting an NCAA regional in mid-May.

UK also grabbed a 5-1 win over Murray State on Wednesday night, gathering its 18th win of the season.  In the two matches Wednesday, Kentucky earned a slew of singles victories, including two each from sophomore Eric Quigley, ranked 11th nationally, and freshman Anthony Rossi. UK also used singles wins from senior Alex Lambropoulos, juniors Brad Cox and Alberto Gonzalez, and sophomores Graeme Dyce and Chris Leeper.

The Wildcats will face tough competition on the road this weekend, starting with No. 51 LSU (5-12, 2-6 SEC). The Tigers are coming off a pair of setbacks last weekend in the SEC where they lost 4-3 at No. 28 Alabama and 5-2 at No. 37 Auburn.  The Tigers boast one ranked singles player and one ranked doubles tandem in No. 34 Neal Skupski and No.  67 Roger Anderson and Skupski.

The 59th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks (9-11, 1-7 SEC) also lost two SEC matches last weekend, falling to Auburn 4-3 and Alabama 4-0. The Razorbacks are led in singles by No. 60 Chris Nott and in doubles by No. 68 Nott and Dmitry Lebedev. 

Live stats will be available for both matches on ukathletics.com.