Feb. 9, 2013
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The seventh-ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis team will travel to No. 19 Illinois on Saturday for a match scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. ET in a match that will be the Wildcats’ fourth-straight contest against a team ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s top-50.
“This is going to be an extremely tough match for our team,” UK head coach Cedric Kauffmann said. “We know coming in how tough Illinois is winning on the road is always a challenge. We picked up a road win a few weeks ago at Indiana with mental toughness and good fight, and we hope to carry that to Illinois with us.”
Kentucky moved up to No. 7 this week in the ITA Tennis rankings after picking up a win over No. 8 Oklahoma last weekend 4-3 in a six-hour thriller. In the match, Kentucky picked up the doubles point when all three matches went to tiebreakers, and got singles wins on courts two, five and six to claim the match.
The Wildcats have won the doubles point in all six matches this season, behind the leadership of No. 35 Tom Jomby/Kevin Lai, who are 6-1 on court one doubles and clinched the doubles point last weekend in the win over Oklahoma. Also, Grant Roberts and Anthony Rossi are 5-1 on the year at court three and have been fighters, coming from behind to claim two matches this season.
In singles, reigning Southeastern Conference Player of the Week Tom Jomby is 5-0 on court two and has defeated a top-ranked opponent in 2013. Jomby also has taken the first set 6-0 in three of the five matches he has played this season, and has not dropped a set yet all year.
A big part of the Wildcats’ success has been the achievements of courts five and six as Charles Minc and Grant Roberts have combined to go 6-0 in the deciding courts.
Illinois has been playing well as of late, as the Fighting Illini knocked off No. 5 Duke to hand the Blue Devils their first loss of the season last weekend. The match between UK and Illinois will begin at 7:00 p.m ET.
For continuing coverage of UK men’s tennis log on to UKathletics.com.
