Jan. 16, 2014

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team will kick off its 2014 spring season on Friday afternoon with a doubleheader at the Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Center. The Wildcats will face the Dayton Flyers at 1 p.m. ET, with the back end of the doubleheader being at 5 p.m. ET against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels.

The 2014 season will mark Kauffmann’s second season at the helm of the Wildcats, coming off of a 22-12 season, in which he led the Wildcats to a fourth-straight NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance for the first time in program history.

Kentucky begins the season ranked No. 9 in the nation, and returns five of six singles courts, and five of its six doubles players from a year ago.

In doubles, UK will be led by standout senior, Tom Jomby and sophomore Kevin Lai, who together in 2013 were named Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Americans in doubles, finishing the season ranked in the top 10 for doubles.

Kentucky has three ranked players to begin the season in singles, with sophomore Beck Pennington leading the way for the Wildcats at No. 55. After an offseason injury, Jomby, a singles and doubles All-American from 2013 returns at full strength to the singles rotation at No. 68 in the rankings and will play No. 1 singles for Kauffmann. Joining Pennington, also ranked for the first time in his career in Lai, who will begin the season ranked No. 97 in singles.

The Wildcats as a team will start the season ranked No. 9 in the nation, as one of three teams (Georgia 3rd, Tennessee 6th) from the Southeastern Conference ranked in the top 10 to start the season. The SEC makes up eight of the top 16 teams in the rankings.

For continuing coverage of UK men’s tennis, log on to UKathletics.com.