Feb. 28, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The ninth-ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis team will have its final non-conference road test of the season on Wednesday when it travels to face Louisiana-Lafayette at 3 p.m. ET in Lafayette, La. Kentucky will begin its Southeastern Conference schedule on Friday.
“This is the beginning of the outdoor season for us and we couldn’t be more excited,” UK head coach Dennis Emery said. “Louisiana-Lafayette has a very good team and a lot of tradition. I think our team understands that and will be ready to play tomorrow. It’s important for us to gain some momentum as we begin SEC play this weekend. We have really been looking forward to the start of SEC action since we lost in the finals of the SEC Tournament last spring. Hopefully that experience will pay off during our difficult league stretch this year.”
The match against the Ragin Cajuns is part of a three-match, week-long road trip for the Wildcats. After the match, Kentucky will travel to Baton Rouge, La., to begin SEC play with No. 17 LSU on Friday. Kentucky then concludes the trip with a match at No. 47 Arkansas on Sunday.
Kentucky (10-3) is coming off a loss at No. 2 Ohio State last weekend, which extended the Buckeye’s nation-long home winning streak to 136 matches. The Wildcats have defeated seven ranked foes this season, including No. 11 Texas A&M, No. 12 Pepperdine, No. 22 Tulsa, No. 29 Indiana, No. 30 Notre Dame, No. 53 Michigan State and No. 57 North Carolina State. The win over the Aggies was Kentucky’s 22nd over a top-25 ranked team since the start of the 2009 season.
UK enters the weekend ranked ninth in the nation in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, which were released Tuesday. UK is also represented well in singles, with five ranked singles players. Senior Eric Quigley leads the singles rankings at No. 6, while junior Anthony Rossi is ranked 14th and senior Alex Musialek ranked 16th. All three players also placed in the top 20 in the previous singles rankings, which marked the first time in school history three UK players were in the top 20 at the same time.
Sophomores Tom Jomby and Alejandro Gomez complete the rankings at No. 98 and No. 107 respectively. Both Jomby and Gomez were also in the previous singles rankings. Quigley and sophomore Panav Jha are ranked 27th in the nation in doubles, which is a career-high ranking for the duo.
Louisiana-Lafayette has a 4-3 record this season, including winning four of its last five matches. The Ragin Cajuns began the season with losses to No. 5 Baylor and No. 11 Texas A&M before grabbing wins against Prairie View A&M, Central Florida and Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Last week, UL fell to No. 40 Virginia Commonwealth before defeating Old Dominion.
For more information on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow “UKmentennis” on Twitter or “University of Kentucky men’s tennis team” on Facebook.
