March 27, 2014

LEXINGTON, Ky. – After moving up one spot in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings on Tuesday afternoon to No. 13 nationally, the University of Kentucky men’s tennis team will hit the road for the final time of the 2014 season, as the Wildcats will travel to No. 34 Auburn and No. 45 Alabama this weekend.

Kentucky will take on the Auburn Tigers on Friday at 3 p.m. ET on The Plains before making its way to Tuscaloosa for a 2 p.m. ET match on Sunday with the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The Wildcats currently are sitting with a 13-5 overall record and are 6-1 within the Southeastern Conference. UK is currently the only 6-1 team in the conference through the first four weekends, only trailing No. 7 Georgia in the SEC standings, who is an undefeated 7-0.

Using Tuesday’s release of the ITA’s rankings, Kentucky continues to boast one of the nation’s toughest schedules. The Wildcats’ only five losses are to No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 7 Georgia, and two losses to No. 9 Notre Dame. Four of those five losses have been on the road.

Kentucky boasts three ranked players in this week’s ITA singles rankings, headlined by senior Tom Jomby. The Nantes, France, native is 14-3 this season in singles, and checks in at No. 11 in this week’s polls. Jomby is the highest-ranked singles player in the SEC this week. 

Also ranked this week is Alejandro Gomez, who is now at No. 85, and into the polls for the first time this season after being injured in the fall. Gomez and Jomby are joined by sophomore Beck Pennington, who checks in at No. 90 this week. Pennington is out to a blistering start in singles and doubles this season, as he is a perfect 7-0 in singles play this season in singles and has had a great start with Gomez in doubles to conference play.

In doubles rankings, Jomby and sophomore Kevin Lai are No. 31 nationally this week.

In 2013, Kentucky knocked off both Alabama and Auburn in Lexington. UK toppled the Alabama Crimson Tide 7-0, and the Tigers 4-1 in 2013.

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