Kentucky Advances to Second Round of ITA Nationals With 4-2 Win Over Tulsa
STILLWATER, Okla. – The No. 14 Kentucky men’s tennis team
advanced to the second round of the ITA Indoor Championships with a come-from-behind
4-2 win over Tulsa on Friday. The Wildcats will take on the winner of Friday’s Oklahoma
State – Columbia match on Saturday for a spot in the Sweet 16.
“It was a gutsy win today,” head coach Cedric Kauffmann
said. “Our identity in singles is set. We are tough at every spot and we play
hard at every point. The doubles we haven’t found ourselves yet but we will.”
Tulsa took the first two doubles matches of the day to earn
the doubles point and take an early 1-0 lead.
Kentucky fought back when senior Nils Ellefsen earned UK its
first point of the day. Ellefsen took down Okkie Kellerman 6-3, 6-4 to tie the
match at 1-1.
“This was the best win of the season so far,” Ellefsen said.
“Tulsa is a very good team and even though we didn’t play our best today, we
fought through and out competed them. I’m very proud of the boys today and we’re
looking forward to another match tomorrow.”
The Golden Hurricane regained the lead when No. 23 junior
Will Bushamuka fell to No. 46 Or Ram-Harel, 6-0, 6-3 to make the match 2-1.
Kentucky tied the match once again when No. 17 sophomore Ryo Matsumura defeated
Majed Kilani, 6-4, 6-3.
No. 110 Trey Yates made it 3-2 when he defeated Mitchell
Pritchard, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). Senior Beck Pennington defeated Dominic Bechard in a
hard fought 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-3 to give the Wildcats the clinching point.
“Today was a good stepping stone in the right direction for
us,” Pennington said. “We didn’t play our best but we fought through it and now
we’re getting ready for tomorrow. “I’m proud of the guys and hopefully we’ll
pull out another win tomorrow.”
Jake Stefanik’s match went unfinished as UK had already
clinched the win. When it finished, he was involved in a 5-7, 6-1, 2-2
thriller.
Kentucky will be back in action at 1 p.m. on Saturday in
Stillwater, Oklahoma.
For more
information on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow @UKMensTennis on
Twitter or Kentucky Men’s Tennis Team on
Facebook.
