Men’s Tennis Opens Fall Slate at SEC Challenge, Louisville Invitational
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama and LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – Kentucky Men’s Tennis will begin its 2024 fall slate of tournaments on Friday, with athletes competing at the SEC Challenge in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as well as the Louisville Invitational in Louisville, Kentucky. Returners Charlelie Cosnet, Matt Rankin, Eli Stephenson, and Jaden Weekes are set to play in Alabama, while Martin Breysach and Eric Crivei will play their first matches at Wildcats in the Derby City.
Hosted by the University of Alabama at the Alabama Tennis Stadium and Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility, the SEC Challenge will feature athletes from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt competing in a unique format that puts a team twist on the individual tournament. Action will begin at 11 a.m. ET on Friday and 10 a.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.
Each school will pair two athletes together for the entire weekend, pitting the pairings in a best-of-three match (one doubles, two singles) tie. After beginning the matchup with a doubles contest, the same four players will go head-to-head in two singles matches. Whichever school wins at least two of the three matches in the tie will advance in the draw, culminating in Sunday’s final. There will be three (two eight-team and one four-team) draws across the three days of action, with flights featuring back draws to guarantee players one singles and one doubles match on each day.
For the Cats, Eli Stephenson and Jaden Weekes will be paired together and compete in the Crimson Draw. The duo will take on Florida’s pairing of Kevin Edengren and Magnus Johnson on Friday. In singles action, Stephenson will take on Edengren and Weekes will face off against Johnson. In the White draw, Cosnet and Rankin will team up and open their tournament against Dylan Charlap and Callum Markowitz of Vanderbilt. In the singles portion of the opening round, Cosnet will face Charlap and Rankin will play Markowitz.
In Louisville, the Cats will face players from Bellarmine, Belmont, Eastern Kentucky, Illinois, Louisville, Memphis, Michigan State, Notre Dame at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Louisville. Three flights of 16-player singles draws, and eight-team doubles draws will take place in a compass-style format, guaranteeing additional back draw matches for eliminated players. Action will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday and 8 a.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.
Breysach, a junior transfer from Baylor, will play in Flight A singles, beginning his first Wildcat campaign against Mathys Bove of Southern Indiana at 11:30 a.m. ET on Friday. Crivei, a freshman from Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, will play in Flight B singles and play his first match in Blue and White against Jayanth Devaiah of Notre Dame at 12:45 p.m. ET Friday. The two Cats will team up in Flight A doubles, starting the tournament against Bellarmine at 9:15 a.m. ET on Friday.
Following the two tournaments, selected Wildcats will take on the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma from September 21-29. The prestigious tournament will be the first of four opportunities to qualify for the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships to be held this fall.
