March 15, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After receiving impressive performances in both singles and doubles the past two weeks, several members of the University of Kentucky men’s tennis team moved into the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles and doubles rankings, which was released Tuesday.
Kentucky (13-5, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) is led in the rankings by junior Eric Quigley, who moved up one spot to No. 4. The native of Pewee Valley, Ky., went 2-2 over the last two weeks with a win over No. 100 Marcel Thiemann of Ole Miss. Quigley’s two losses came in three-set thrillers to No. 13 John-Patrick Smith of Tennessee and No. 15 Wil Spencer of Georgia. Quigley has been ranked in the top five in the nation since January.
Fellow junior Alex Musialek moved up 10 spots in the latest singles rankings after a solid two weeks of play. The native of Dax, France is 3-1 in Kentucky’s last four matches, taking down three top-101 ranked players, including No. 24 Javier Garrapiz of Georgia. Musialek’s only loss during the two-week stretch was a 7-5, 6-4 loss to No. 3 Rhyne Williams of Tennessee.
Two other Wildcats are ranked in singles with sophomore Anthony Rossi entering the singles rankings for the first time in his collegiate career at No. 77. The native of Marseille, France, is 3-0 so far this season in SEC play, defeating several quality players, including No. 73 Louis Cant of Mississippi State. In Kentucky’s match with Tennessee, Rossi led No. 113 Boris Conkic 6-3, 4-3 before play was suspended due to UT winning the match.
Senior Alberto Gonzalez wraps up the singles rankings for the Wildcats, falling to No. 117 after a 2-2 start to open SEC play.
On top of being well represented in singles, UK now boasts two top-50 ranked doubles tandems in No. 41 Gonzalez and freshman Tom Jomby and No. 48 senior Brad Cox and Quigley. Both doubles duos had great starts to the SEC slate of matches with Gonzalez and Jomby going 3-1 with wins over No. 55 Williams and Tennys Sandgren of Tennessee and No. 36 Ignacio Taboada and Sadio Doumbia of Georgia.
Quigley and Cox were equally impressive in doubles action, earning a win over No. 6 Garrapiz and Hernus Pieters of Georgia and falling in a heartbreaking tiebreaker to the top-ranked doubles team in the nation of Smith and Conkic of Tennessee.
As a team, Kentucky fell to No. 14 in the rankings after losses to No. 3 Tennessee and No. 9 Georgia. The Wildcats have been ranked in the top 15 all season. UK will be in action again Thursday when it hosts a doubleheader with No. 21 Notre Dame and Butler starting at 1 p.m. ET.
