Jan. 12, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team will welcome some of the best collegiate tennis players in the country this weekend when it plays host to the Southeastern Conference Coaches’ Indoor Championships for the first time since 2009, beginning Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET in Lexington, Ky. The tournament will run through Monday, Jan. 16.
Play will be spread out through two locations with action at both the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex and the Lexington Tennis Club on Friday and Saturday. All matches will be played at the Boone Tennis Complex on Sunday and Monday. Play begins Friday with singles and doubles first round action and concludes Monday with the singles and doubles finals.
“This is one of the strongest fields in the country,” UK head coach Dennis Emery said. “The top of the draw is great with two top-five players as the top-two seeds, but the depth from top to bottom is amazing. When you look and see the quality of players not seeded in the top 16 then you begin to understand why the field is so strong. There are players who have won futures events and with high ATP rankings, who are not seeded in the top eight of this event.”
Including Kentucky, seven conference teams will play in the event in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. Six of the seven teams are ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Preseason team rankings, including three in the top eight. Georgia headlines the rankings at No. 4, while Kentucky is seventh and Florida is eighth. Ole Miss begins the season at No. 24, while Vanderbilt is 37th and Alabama 51st.
“This event has been going since the 1970s and it is meant to showcase the best players in the best conference in the country,” Emery said. “It is also a preview of the SEC spring season, which begins the first weekend of March.”
A number of highly ranked singles players will make their way to Lexington for the event, including six ranked Kentucky players in No. 3 Eric Quigley, No. 13 Alex Musialek, No. 36 Anthony Rossi, No. 85 Panav Jha, No. 95 Tom Jomby and No. 111 Alejandro Gomez. Joining the ranked Wildcats will be 14 other ranked singles players, including No. 3 Wil Spencer and No. 10 Sadio Doumbia of Georgia.
Kentucky has had strong success over the years at the event, including last season when Quigley advanced to the finals of the singles main draw. Quigley also advanced to the semifinals of the singles main draw in 2010.
Updated draws will be posted throughout the weekend at the SEC Coaches’ Indoor Tournament Central page on UKathletics.com. Scores will also be sent out through the Twitter account @UKMensTennis, while a live interactive blog will be available for fans online beginning Saturday afternoon.
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.
