Jan. 6, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team is set to begin its 2012 spring schedule when it plays in the Rainbow Warrior Challenge against the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, Hawaii on Saturday.
The two teams will play a flight tournament format on Saturday and Sunday with play beginning at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday and 3 p.m. ET on Sunday. Only individual results will count, no team results will be kept. The two-day event will be comprised of three flights with round robin play. Three flight champions will be crowned Sunday. The matches will be played at the UH Tennis Complex.
Kentucky, who is entering its 30th season under head coach Dennis Emery’s leadership, has been in Hawaii since Monday to prepare for the upcoming 2012 spring dual-match schedule and bond as a team.
“We have had a great week of practice in preparation for the season,” Emery said. “We have a serious group of players that are committed to working hard, so these group trips are both fun and very productive. One thing a trip like this shows you is what kind of leadership you have and we have great leadership on this team. This event is a good format of individual matches because it gives us ability to be flexible with what we play.”
Earlier this week, Kentucky had an impressive showing in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association preseason polls. The Wildcats start the spring season ranked as the No. 7 team in the nation, while UK’s impressive total of six ranked singles players is more than any other team in the nation.
Seniors Eric Quigley and Alex Musialek headline the rankings for Kentucky, sitting fifth and 13th, respectively, while junior Anthony Rossi is in the top 40 at No. 36. Sophomores Panav Jha, Tom Jomby and Alejandro Gomez complete the rankings at No. 85, No. 95 and No. 111, respectively.
As a group, the Wildcats are coming off one of the best fall seasons in school history in which the team went a collective 88-38 in singles play. Quigley had the best record during the fall campaign at 19-4, while Musialek went 11-4 en route to claiming the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Indoor singles title.
Quigley has a career singles record of 137-43, sitting only seven wins shy of tying the school record for singles wins in a career. Paul Varga (1982-85) holds the school record in career singles wins with a 144-80 post. Musialek is 89-41 for his career in singles action, ranking him in sole possession of 19th on UK’s career singles wins list.
Rossi, who made a deep run in the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Indoor Championships, claimed his first singles title collegiately this fall, winning the Duke Fab Four Invitational. Other strong performers this fall were Jha, who went 10-5, Jomby, who earned his first collegiate win over a ranked foe to go 7-3, and Gomez, who won the Southern Intercollegiate division II singles title en route to a 15-2 final record.
For more information on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow “UKMensTennis” on Twitter or search “University of Kentucky Men’s Tennis Team” on Facebook.
