Joshua Lapadat, JJ Mercer Earn All-America Status

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Following their outstanding season as Kentucky’s top doubles pair, senior Joshua Lapadat and graduate JJ Mercer were officially named All-Americans by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association this week.

Making the jump to No. 1 doubles for the Wildcats in their third season as partners, Lapadat and Mercer posted a 16-6 dual match record which included an 8-3 mark against nationally ranked opponents. The pairing went 11-3 against Southeastern Conference opponents, earning a nod to the All-SEC First Team.

The tandem claimed the No. 3 overall seed in the NCAA Doubles Championships last month and finished the season as the ITA’s No. 5 ranked doubles team in the country. That ranking was the highest end of season ranking for a UK doubles pair since Jesse Witten and Tigran Martirosyan finished the 2005 campaign at No. 3.

Lapadat and Mercer’s success helped Kentucky go 20-9 in doubles points this season, including a stretch of 11 consecutive doubles points won from March 22 against Texas A&M through UK’s NCAA Tournament first round match on May 3 against DePaul. The duo was dominant at the Southeastern Conference Tournament, going a perfect 3-0 to help the Cats to their second-straight SEC Tournament crown.

Those results were a part of a 27-3 season overall for the Wildcats which saw the team win both the SEC regular season and tournament championships in the same year for just the second time in program history. The Cats would go on to reach the national quarterfinals in the NCAA Tournament for the third-consecutive year.

Lapadat and Mercer both become ITA All-Americans for the first time in 2024, raising Kentucky men’s tennis’ All-American total to 54 selections all time. They are the first Wildcats to be named All-Americans in doubles since Gabriel Diallo and Cesar Bourgois in 2021.

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