Jan. 24, 2014
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 8 University of Kentucky men’s tennis team defeated the No. 45 BYU Cougars, 4-0, on Friday afternoon at the Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Center, booking their spot in the regional final of the 2014 ITA Kick-Off Lexington Regional.
The Wildcats secured the doubles point with wins on courts two and three before promptly locking up the march with three straight-set wins in singles on courts one, three and four.
In doubles, for the first time all season, sophomore Beck Pennington teamed with Alejandro Gomez, as the duo combined to win 6-1 on court two and give the Wildcats the early leg up in the doubles point. Newcomer Nils Ellefsen teamed up with senior Ryuji Hirooka on court three to clinch the doubles point with an easy 6-2 win on court three. Kevin Lai and Tom Jomby were serving for the match at 5-4 when the 1-0 lead was clinched, and the match was stopped.
In singles, freshman Jerry Lopez wasted no time for Kentucky, breezing through his match, collecting a 6-3, 6-0 win on court four to give Kentucky the commanding 2-0 lead in the match. After exchanging service breaks in the first games of the set, Lopez controlled the rest of the match, winning the last eight games of the match.
On court three, Gomez continued his hot play as of late, upping is undefeated record to 5-0 on the year, as he tallied a 6-2, 6-2 win on court three. Gomez was in control of the match from start to finish, and gave the Wildcats the 3-0 lead.
The match was clinched in just 97 minutes from start to finish when Jomby served out a 6-4, 6-4 win on court one. Jomby got a single break each set, and was not broken during the course of the match. The win for Jomby also upped his record to 5-0 on the season.
Kentucky (5-0) with the win, advances to the Lexington Regional final, where the Wildcats will face the winner of No. 29 Notre Dame and No. 39 Minnesota on Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m. ET for a ticket to the ITA National Indoors in Houston, Texas in mid-February.
“This was a good win today,” UK head coach Cedric Kauffmann said. “We are looking for a big crowd tomorrow as we look to advance to the ITA National Indoors in Houston. A big turnout by the Big Blue Nation would be a great thing for our team and would really help us tomorrow night.”
Agate
2014 ITA Kick-Off Weekend
No. 8 Kentucky 4, No. 45 BYU 0
Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Center – Lexington, Ky.
Fri. Jan 24, 2014
Match duration: 1:37
Doubles: (Order of finish: 2, 3*)
1- Tom Jomby/Kevin Lai (UK) led Andrey Goryachkov/Jeremy Bourgeois (BYU) 5-4 (DNF)
2- Alejandro Gomez/Beck Pennington (UK) def. Juan Canales/Sterling Galli (BYU) 6-1
3- Nils Ellefsen/Ryuji Hirooka (UK) def. Matthew Pearce/Jacob Sullivan (BYU) 6-2
Singles: (Order of finish: 3, 2, 1*)
1- No. 68 Tom Jomby (UK) def. Andrey Goryachkov (BYU) 6-4, 6-4
2- Beck Pennington (UK) led Jeremy Bourgeois (BYU) 6-5 (6), 2-2
3- Alejandro Gomez (UK) def. Mathew Pearce (BYU) 6-2, 6-2
4- Jerry Lopez (UK) def. Juan Canales (BYU) 6-3, 6-0
5- Grant Roberts (UK) vs. Aidan Carrazedo (BYU) DNS
6- Ryuji Hirooka (UK) vs. Sterling Galli (BYU) DNS
For continuing coverage of UK men’s tennis, log on to UKathletics.com.
