March 25, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After a seven-match home stand that saw the 14th ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis team go 5-2 with three wins over top-50 ranked team, the Wildcats will hit the road for the first time in over two weeks when it faces Southeastern Conference foe No. 26 Auburn on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.
Kentucky (18-5, 3-2 SEC) is currently riding a five-match winning streak after defeating No. 21 Notre Dame, No. 37 Alabama and Butler last week and No. 43 Maryland and Eastern Kentucky in a doubleheader Tuesday. The Wildcats have faced a total of 16 top-50 teams so far this season, earning an 11-5 record in those matches.
UK holds a 5-3 record away from the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex this season with wins against No. 13 Texas Tech, No. 29 Washington, No. 31 Ole Miss, No. 43 Mississippi State and no. 46 Indiana.
The Wildcats enter the weekend with four players ranked in singles and two highly ranked doubles tandems. Junior Eric Quigley leads the UK charge ranked as the fourth-best singles player in the nation with eight wins over players currently ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s top 100. The native of Pewee Valley, Ky., has been ranked in the top five in the nation since the rankings came out in January.
Junior Alex Musialek and sophomore Anthony Rossi, both natives of France, have been very solid for UK at the No. 2 and No. 5 singles positions, respectively. Musialek is ranked 47th in the nation in singles with a 12-7 record this season, while Rossi comes in at No. 77 with an impressive 12-3 record. Senior Alberto Gonzalez is ranked 117th in the nation, gathering a 12-5 record this year mostly at the No. 4 singles position.
Kentucky also boasts two ranked doubles tandems in SEC Freshman of the Week Tom Jomby and Gonzalez ranked 41st in the nation, while senior Brad Cox and Quigley come in at No. 48. Jomby and Gonzalez are 9-5 this season in doubles, including a 3-1 mark in SEC play, while Quigley and Cox are 7-7 overall. Kentucky’s No. 3 doubles team of Rossi and Musialek have the best SEC record of any UK doubles duo this season at 4-1.
Auburn (10-6, 2-3 SEC) is coming off back-to-back wins against No. 28 Vanderbilt and No. 50 USF last week. The Tigers have been led this season by senior Tim Puetz, who is ranked 31st in the nation with a 10-3 singles record and 2-2 mark in SEC play. Three other AU players are ranked in singles: No. 104 Alexander Stamchev, No. 105 Daniel Cochrane and No. 121 Andreas Mies. Mies has a team-high 13 singles wins this year, including a 3-0 mark in SEC play. The sophomore from Germany is 5-0 at No. 5 singles and 8-0 at No. 6 singles. Mies and Stamchev are the lone doubles tandem ranked in the ITA poll in doubles, coming in at 63rd.
Live scores from the match will be available at UKathletics.com.
