As if advancing to the Sweet 16 isn’t fulfilling enough, Saturday’s second-round NCAA Tournament victory was even sweeter for the Kentucky men’s tennis team with a 4-3 win over archrival Louisville.With a rowdy, electric crowd of 686 fans watching at UK’s Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex – it sounded more like a couple thousand – Alex Musialek smashed a forehand just inside the left line to win 5-7, 7-5, 6-0 and clinch the match for Kentucky.Louisville, just moments earlier, had evened the match at 3-3 with Austen Childs’ 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-4 victory over Eric Quigley, but Musialek fended off U of L’s Viktor Maksimcuk in the final match in the rivals’ first meeting since 2005. Befitting of a match that felt like a Final Four showdown, the Wildcats stormed the court and piled on Musialek as he laid on one of the two center courts with his arms stretched in the air.You can view that celebration and hear what Musialek, Quigley and head coach Dennis Emery had to say about the thrilling victory in the videos below. Evan Crane has the full details of the match here.UK will now head to Stanford, Calif., to play the winner of Florida-Miami (Fla.), which was still going on at the time of this post, on Thursday in the Sweet 16. Kentucky lost to the Gators in the Southeastern Conference Tournament finals but beat Florida in the regular season.The Sweet 16 appearance is the program’s second straight and 10th since 1987. Postmatch celebration
‘;
//–>
Head coach Dennis Emery
Junior Alex Musialek
Junior Eric Quigley