Four Wildcats Ready for NCAA Singles and Doubles Tournament
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Four members of the Kentucky men’s tennis team – Will Bushamuka, Ryo Matsumura, Gus Benson and Cesar Bourgois – will compete in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Tournament beginning on May 23 at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Bushamuka and Matsumura will compete in the singles portion, while Benson and Bourgois will team up in doubles play.
Matsumura is the No. 8 seed in the event and will face Billy Griffith of California on May 23 at 11 a.m. Bushamuka will also compete on Wednesday, taking on Yuya Ito of Texas at 4:30 p.m. Bourgois and Benson will face Martin Redlicki and Evan Zhu of UCLA on May 24 at a time to be announced.
Live streams, results and updated brackets throughout the weekend can be found on the Tournament Central page on the Wake Forest website here.
Matsumura earned the No. 8 seed after being ranked No. 8 in the Oracle ITA rankings. Matsumura is coming off a season that earned him first team All-SEC and the ITA Ohio Valley Region Player to Watch award. Matsumura is currently 17-4 overall with 11 of those wins coming on the top court in dual play. Matsumura went 9-3 against nationally ranked opponents, and beat two players ranked No. 3 in the nation. He won his first 14 of 15 matches of the season and finished the year with six wins over top-30 opponents.
His opponent Griffith is ranked No. 54 in the nation with 12.76 points as a senior. Griffith spent the entire dual season on the No. 1 court ant went 7-8. He accumulated a 3-3 dual record in Pac-12 play. Griffith has posted wins over seven opponents currently ranked, including Stanford’s ninth-ranked Tom Fawcett, Oregon’s 22nd-ranked Thomas Laurent and Washington’s 46th-ranked Jake Douglas.
Bushamuka is currently No. 50 in the Oracle ITA rankings with 13.66 points. Bushamuka earned All-SEC and was 11-8 overall this season, with 10 of those wins coming on the No. 2 court. Bushamuka earned four wins over nationally ranked opponents, including a win over No. 6 Arthur Rinderknech, 6-4, 6-0.
His opponent Ito is ranked No. 52 in the nation as a sophomore. Ito is 13-4 this season and has five wins over nationally ranked opponents. He’s spilt time on the top three courts with seven of those wins coming on the No. 1 court.
Benson and Bourgois are up to No. 13 in the latest Oracle ITA rankings with 27.04 points. The duo has 10 wins this season, with five of those coming over ranked opponents. The duo has five wins over ranked opponents are making their first appearance in the doubles tournament.
Their opponent, Redlicki/Zhu, sits at No. 29 in the ITA rankings with 17.45 points.
For more information on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow @UKMensTennis on Twitter or Kentucky Men’s Tennis Team on Facebook.
