April 2, 2015
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team collected a 4-1 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks on Thursday afternoon, winning its second straight match in Southeastern Conference play behind a doubles point win, and three wins in the singles competition.
For the fifth straight SEC match, Kentucky won the doubles point, and jumped out to a 1-0 lead over the Razorbacks with wins on courts two and three. The five doubles points wins in a row ties a program-high under current third-year head coach Cedric Kauffmann (2012, six).
On court one, the first doubles match to be completed, No. 59 Beck Pennington/Kevin Lai fell 6-3 to give the early doubles edge to the Razorbacks. But, Kentucky would respond with wins by William Bushamuka/Trey Yates (6-4) on court three, and then a clinching win on court two by the doubles pair of Nils Ellefsen and Jerry Lopez, by a count of 6-4 as well.
In singles, Arkansas tied up the match quickly on court four, as the Razorbacks’ Santiago Munoz knocked off the Wildcats’ Trey Yates, 6-3, 6-3 to square the match at 1-1.
Kentucky would then retain the lead for the rest of the match, and collect a 4-1 win on the road. UK took a 2-1 lead when sophomore Jerry Lopez was able to nail down a 6-2, 6-3 win on court two over William Albanese. That lead would be pushed to a 3-1 count overall when freshman six-man Jake Stefanik scored a 6-0, 6-4 win on court six to give UK the commanding lead.
On court one, in the battle of ranked players, UK’s No. 62 Beck Pennington was able to fight through breaks in both sets to win 7-5, 6-3 over No. 81 Giammarco Micolani and clinch the match for the Wildcats. Pennington has now won two matches in a row without dropping a set.
UK will next take to the courts on Saturday, April 4, at Ole Miss in Oxford. This is a change from the original date on the schedule, which was April 5. The match on Saturday will commence at 2 p.m. ET from Oxford.
Kentucky 4, Arkansas 1
Billingsly Tennis Center — Fayetteville, Ark.
April 2, 2015
Doubles (Order of finish: 1, 3, 2*)
1. Santiago Munoz/Branch Terrell (ARK) def. #59 Kevin Lai/Beck Pennington (UK) 6-3
2. Nils Ellefsen/Jerry Lopez (UK) def. Jovan Parlic/Giammarco Micolani (ARK) 6-4
3. William Bushamuka/Trey Yates (UK) def. Johan den Toom/William Albanese (ARK) 6-4
Singles (Order of finish: 4, 2, 6, 1*)
1. #62 Beck Pennington (UK) def. #81 Giammarco Micolani (ARK) 7-5, 6-3
2. Jerry Lopez (UK) def. William Albanese (ARK) 6-2, 6-3
3. Jovan Parlic (ARK) vs. William Bushamuka (UK) 2-6, 6-0, 1-4, unfinished
4. Santiago Munoz (ARK) def. Trey Yates (UK) 6-3, 6-3
5. Johan den Toom (ARK) vs. Nils Ellefsen (UK) 6-4, 3-6, 1-0, unfinished
6. Jake Stefanik (UK) def. David Herrerias (ARK) 6-0, 6-4
For more information on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow “UKMensTennis” on Twitter or “University of Kentucky men’s tennis team” on Facebook.
