The Kentucky men’s tennis team will host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament this weekend at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex for the third straight year.UK, the 10th overall seed in the 64-team field, will play Cleveland State in the opening round for the third straight year as well. The Cats also face the possibility of playing Louisville, which UK has not played since 2005, in the second round.  Emery and junior star Eric Quigley talked with the media Wednesday before Kentucky’s opening round match on Friday at 3 p.m. Both believe the team can build off its experience from making it to the round of 16 last year and burst into the national semifinals this season, which they talk about in the videos below.”We have beaten Georgia this year, which has been in the top four or five and was No. 5 when we beat them,” Emery said. “We beat Florida, who is No. 7 now. Just as importantly, we had six match points on Tennessee when they were No. 2 in the country. We have played a lot of very close matches and we have won some, lost some. Because of our athletic ability, I believe this is a team that can go to the Final Four, and they are certainly ready to do that. Our expectation level at the beginning of the year was that. We are anxious to see how that plays out and that is what makes this weekend so exciting.”

Head coach Dennis Emery

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Junior Eric Quigley