Sept. 13, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After opening the fall weekend in Athens, Ga., at the Southern Intercollegiate last weekend, the University of Kentucky men’s tennis team will split up this weekend, with part of the squad traveling to North Carolina and the other half making the venture to Chicago, Ill., in the second weekend of fall tennis action.
Competing in the Olympia Fields Invitational in Chicago, Ill., will be Beck Pennington, Tom Jomby, Brett Johnson and Kai-Wen Lai, while the other players on the roster will compete in Cary, N.C., at the Duke Invitational. Both tournaments will run from Sept. 14-16 over the weekend. There is no draw for the Illinois tourney as coaches will match each player to its best-suited opponent at the start of each day.
At the Duke Fab Four Invite, freshman Juan Pablo Murra, junior Ryuji Hirooka, junior Panav Jha and senior Anthony Rossi will compete this weekend. All singles matches Friday will have first serve at 1:00 p.m. ET. Murra will be facing off against Josh Levine from the host school, Duke. Murra will be competing in the blue bracket, which features the No. 1 seed in the nation, Henrique Cunha of Duke. Also seeded in Murra’s region is Jamie Whiteford (43) of William & Mary, who Murra could possibly face in the second round, Sebastian Stiefelmayer (70) of Louisville and Max Wennakoski (80) of VCU.
In the black singles region, Hirooka and Jha will represent the Wildcats, with Jha serving as one of four ranked players in the region (64). All singles matches will start at 1:00, as Jha will face off against William Parker of North Carolina. Hirooka will begin the Fab Four Invite by playing the No. 1 seed in his region, Chris Mengel of Duke. Mengel is ranked No. 19 in the nation.
In the white region, senior captain Anthony Rossi will serve as the No. 1 seed. Rossi will take on Austin Powell of N.C. State in the opening round at 1:00 on Friday. Also seeded in Rossi’s bracket is Alexis Heugas of VCU (52), Nicholas Sayer of Radford (74), followed by the No. 111 national seed, Fred Saba of Duke.
The Cats will have a pair of doubles teams which will play at 10:00 a.m. ET on Friday before the singles get underway. Murra and Hirooka will tangle with Hunter Koontz and Marko Lovrinovic of Virginia Tech. Rossi and Jha will pair together to play Stefan Fortmann and Cameron Silverman of Elon.
UK Results – DAY 1
Duke Fab Four Invite:
Singles –
Josh Levine (Duke) def. Juan Pablo Murra (UK) 2-6, 6-1, 6-0
Sean Weber (NCST) def. Panav Jha (UK) 6-4, 6-4
Raphael Hemmeler (Duke) def. Ryuji Hirooka (UK) 6-3, 6-3
Anthony Rossi (UK) def. Austin Powell (NCST) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
Doubles –
Koonz/Lovrinovic (VT) def. Murra/Hirooka (UK) 8-3
Silverman/Fortmann (Elon) de. Rossi/Jha (UK) 9-8 (5)
Olympia Fields Invite:
Singles –
No. 45 Tom Jomby (UK) def. Wyatt McCoy (ND), 7-6(8), 7-5
Kevin Lai (UK) def. Michael Moore (ND), 6-1, 6-2
Beck Pennington (UK) def. Spencer Talmadge (ND), 6-4, 6-1
Chase Melton (CAL) def. Brett Johnson (UK), 6-0, 4-6, 6-3
Doubles –
Round 1:
Tom Jomby/Kevin Lai (UK) def. Alex Lawson/Billy Pecor (ND), 8-5
Brett Johnson/Beck Pennington (UK) def. Tim Kopinski/Alex Jesse (ILL), 8-6
Round 2:
Tom Jomby/Kevin Lai (UK) def. Greg Andrews/Spencer Talmadge (ND), 8-5
Brett Johnson/Beck Pennington (UK) def. Mousheg Hovhannisyan/Damian Gryzelko (PEP), 9-8(5)
UK Results – DAY 2
Olympia Fields
Singles –
Round 2:
No. 45 Tom Jomby (UK) def. Stephen Hoh (ILL), 6-1, 6-2
Jared Hiltzik (ILL) def. Kevin Lai (UK), 6-4, 6-1
Brett Johnson (UK) def. Julian Childers (ILL), 7-5, 6-2
Beck Pennington (UK) def. Billy Pecor (ND), 6-1, 6-4
Singles –
Round 3:
Beck Pennington (UK) def. Quentin Monaghan, 1-6, 7-5, (10-8)
Brett Johnson (UK) def. Michael Moore (ND), 6-3, 6-2
No. 45 Tom Jomby (UK) def. No. 3 Sebastian Fanselow (PEP), 7-5, 6-1
No. 118 Farris Gosea (ILL) def. Kevin Lai (UK), 7-6(3), 6-3
Fab Four Invite: Day 2
Singles –
Round 2:
Juan Pablo Murra (UK) def. Aaron Gomez (VT) 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-3
Brett Clark (UNC) def. Panav Jha (UK), 6-2, 6-3
Joe Mills (RAD) def. Ryuji Hirooka (UK), 6-3, 6-1
Anthony Rossi (UK) def. Daniel McCall (Duke) 6-4, 6-4
Singles –
Round 3:
Jarryd Botha (BAMA) def. Juan Pablo Murra (UK), 6-3, 6-3
Michael Ridelicki (Duke) def. Anthony Rossi (UK), Walkover
Doubles –
Round 2:
Murra/Hirooka (UK) def. Lippens/Simich (Louisville), 8-5
Proskura/Taborga (BAMA) def. Rossi/Jha (UK), 8-4
Singles –
Round 3:
Banks/Guthrie (W&M) def. Murra/Hirooka (UK) 8-6
