Feb. 20, 2014
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After two weeks off, the No. 17 University of Kentucky men’s tennis team returns to action on Friday afternoon, as the Wildcats will face off against the No. 5 Oklahoma Sooners in a top-20 showdown in Norman, Okla., at 5 p.m. ET. The match will be Kentucky’s fifth match against a top-10 team this season.
“Even though we were disappointed not to go to National Indoors, it gave us 10 good days of practices,” second year head coach Cedric Kauffmann said. “We will have a tough task tomorrow against one of the best teams in the country and playing outside for the first time all season. Having said that, this team is excited to get back out there and compete again. This team can beat anybody in the country if every spot competes and plays like they can.”
Kentucky enters Friday’s match 7-3 overall, while the Sooners, fresh off a quarterfinal appearance at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s National Indoor Championships, will enter the match 8-1. The No. 5 national ranking for OU is the highest under head coach John Roddick and in program history.
Last season in Lexington, the Wildcats, ranked No. 9, knocked off the No. 8 Sooners, 4-3 in a match that lasted upwards of four hours at the Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Center. Kentucky won an epic doubles point, claiming wins on two of the three courts, as all three doubles matches went to tiebreakers. The Wildcats then got a match-clinching win from Grant Roberts, 6-3 in the third set on court six to seal one of the biggest non-conference wins in program history under Kauffmann.
Friday will be Kentucky’s first match outdoors of the 2014 season, after beginning the season indoors, much like every team across the nation with the weather across the county. Conditions in Norman on Friday are expected to be 68 degrees during the match with winds topping out at 20 mph out of the south-southwest.
The match with Oklahoma will serve as the Wildcats’ final non-conference test before Southeastern Conference play begins on Feb. 28 at nationally-ranked LSU in Baton Rouge, La.
SoonerSports.com will be hosting the match live, with live stats for the duration of the match.
For continuing coverage of UK men’s tennis, log on to UKathletics.com.
