UK Men’s Tennis Set For Commodore Invitational
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team is set to continue fall competition with its second event of the season, taking on Auburn, Arkansas and host Vanderbilt at the Commodore Invitational this weekend at Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
Play will begin Friday and go through Sunday, with the Wildcats facing individual competitors from a different institution each day as part of the unique tournament setup established by the Southeastern Conference for this fall.
Kentucky began its season with the Gamecock Fall SEC Scramble on Oct. 2-4, completing exhibition matches against Georgia, host South Carolina and Tennessee. UK underclassmen Joshua Lapadat and Gabriel Diallo were the highlight of the Cats’ performance, each earning two wins on the singles court.
Diallo competed as Kentucky’s top player in his latter two matches after starting out in the second slot, earning victories over Georgia’s Tyler Zink (6-4, 2-6, 6-3) and South Carolina’s Connor Thompson (6-3, 1-6, 6-3).
Lapadat defeated Georgia junior Blake Croyder—the nation’s 88th-ranked singles player last spring—by a score of 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in his collegiate debut. The London, Ontario, native bested Tennessee’s Johannus Monday 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) on the event’s final afternoon.
Auburn hosted the Commodores at the Tiger Invitational in both teams’ fall opener two weeks prior to Friday, while Arkansas began its season at the Olivier Borsos Invitational in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow @UKMensTennis on Twitter and Facebook, @kentuckymenstennis on Instagram, and on the web at UKAthletics.com.
