No. 8 Kentucky Opens 24th ITA Indoor Nationals Appearance Against No. 19 NC State
DALLAS, Texas – For the 24th time in program history, No. 8 Kentucky (6-1, 0-0 SEC) will begin its campaign at the ITA Indoor National Championships, beginning its run against No. 19 NC State (6-2, 0-0 ACC) on Friday, February 14 at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Cats will complete their entire tournament stay at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex on the campus of SMU in Dallas, Texas.
The Cats are one of eight teams playing preliminary rounds at SMU, slotting as the pod’s No. 4 seed. NC State is seeded fifth, with No. 2 Wake Forest, No. 5 Virginia, and No. 3 Texas comprising the top three. No. 14 Texas A&M is seeded sixth, No. 20 Michigan seventh, and the host and eighth-seeded Mustangs round out the field in Dallas. No. 1 TCU, No. 4 Ohio State, No. 6 Columbia, No. 7 Duke, No. 9 San Diego, No. 11 Stanford, No. 21 UCF, and Baylor make up the Waco pod of the tournament.
The round of 16, quarterfinals, and a pair of consolation rounds will take place over the first three days at the split sites. The final four teams will reunite for the semifinals and finals, played at SMU from February 17-18. Each team in the tournament is guaranteed at least three matches, regardless of result.
The Wildcats qualified for this weekend’s event by sweeping through the Lexington ITA Kickoff Weekend Regional in late January. Kentucky defeated Santa Clara and No. 20 Arizona State to advance out of Kickoff Weekend for the seventh time in program history.
Kentucky is 1-1 against ranked opponents this season, most recently defeating the Sun Devils at home while also falling at No. 23 Michigan State on opening weekend. The Wildcats most recently played two weeks ago, defeating Memphis and Louisville.
Three Cats were ranked in the most recent ITA Singles Rankings, led by No. 62 Jaden Weekes. No. 68 Jack Loutit made his first appearance of the spring and No. 95 Charlelie Cosnet continued his streak of appearing in every singles ranking this season.
No. 18 NC State enters Friday’s first round contest after qualifying out of the Starkville ITA Kickoff Regional. The Wolfpack defeated a pair of SEC opponents–LSU and No. 9 Mississippi State–to qualify for the National Indoors for the first time since 2020.
NC State is 2-2 against ranked opponents this season, with wins against MSU and Michigan and losses against Harvard and Columbia. A season ago, NC State hosted the First and Second rounds of the NCAA Tournament but fell in the Round of 32 to South Carolina. No. 16 Braden Shick leads the Wolfpack singles lineup and is also ranked No. 28 in doubles alongside Fons Van Sambeek.
The winner of the Kentucky/NC State first round match will face the winner of the Wake Forest/SMU opening round contest in Saturday’s quarterfinals. The two losers of those matches will also play a consolation match on Saturday.
All home matches will be played at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex and admission is free to the public for all regular season contests. A live stream will be provided for all home matches on UKAthletics.com.
For the latest on UK Men’s Tennis, follow the Wildcats on X and Instagram at @UKMensTennis.
