Men’s Tennis Earns Third Top-10 Victory, Defeats Texas A&M

LEXINGTON, Ky- The No. 5 Kentucky men’s tennis team (15-2, 6-0 SEC) ended the No. 10 Texas A&M Aggies’ (16-5, 5-2 SEC) five-match Southeastern Conference win streak, winning 4-3 on Friday afternoon outdoors at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex. This marks the Wildcats’ eighth consecutive win as they remain undefeated in SEC play. Kentucky is now 3-0 against top-10 opponents this season. 

In the doubles session, the UK pair of freshman Jack Loutit and fifth year Taha Baadi defeated TAMU’s Kenner Taylor and Tiago Pires 6-3 at third doubles to put the Cats within one of claiming the doubles point. On court one, the No. 23 combination of Joshua Lapadat and JJ Mercer took down the No. 28 pair of Guilio Perego and Togan Tokac 6-3 to secure the doubles point, leaving court two unfinished. With the result, Kentucky snaps a three-match skid in doubles play. 

In singles, sophomore Jaden Weekes got out to a quick start, adding the first singles point with a 6-3,6-3 straight-set win over TAMU’s Tokac, marking his sixth-straight singles victory. Shortly thereafter, Frenchman sophomore Charlelie Cosnet took down A&M’s Guilio Perego 6-4,-6-3 to put the Cats within one point of the match. 

The Aggies would claim one point prior to UK clinching, as defending SEC Co-Freshman of the Week Tiago Pires claimed the victory on court five over Jack Loutit, 6-4, 6-4. Looking for one more point, Lapadat soared to a first set win over No. 24 JC Roddick 6-3, before defeating him 7-5 in the second set to clinch the match for Kentucky. 

With both teams electing to play out, the Aggies added two more points to their total, winning on courts one and six. At first singles, No. 33 Raphael Perot of Texas A&M defeated No. 36 Taha Baadi in three sets, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. After losing the first set in a tiebreak, freshman Matt Rankin forced a third-set, but ultimately fell to TAMU’s Brayden Michna, 6-7(6-8), 6-2, 1-6 to end the match. 

The Cats will take on the No. 21 Auburn Tigers on Sunday, March 24 for a 1 p.m. matinee at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex. Admission is free to the public. 

No. 5 Kentucky vs. No. 10 Texas A&M

Doubles

No. 23 Lapadat/Mercer (UK) def. No. 28 Togan/Perego (TAMU): 6-3

Weekes/Rankin (UK) vs. Roddick/Casper (TAMU): 4-5 (uf)

Loutit/Baadi (UK) def. Pires/Taylor (TAMU): 6-3

Singles

No. 33 Raphael Perot (TAMU) def.  No. 36 Taha Baadi (UK): 6-3,1-6, 6-4

Josh Lapadat (UK) def. No. 24 JC Roddick (TAMU): 6-3, 7-5

Jaden Weekes (UK) def. Togan Tokac (TAMU): 6-2, 6-2

Charlelie Cosnet (UK) def. Guilio Perego (TAMU ): 6-4, 6-3

Tiago Pires (TAMU) def. Jack Loutit (UK): 6-4,6-4

Brayden Michna (TAMU) def. Matt Rankin (UK): 7-6 (8-6), 2-6, 6-1

Order of Finish:

Doubles— 3,1

Singles— 3,4,5,2*,1,6

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