Kentucky Sweeps Arkansas to Cap Undefeated Home Season
LEXINGTON, Ky– Kentucky men’s tennis (16-10, 7-7 SEC) capped its 2025 regular season in an emphatic way, sweeping Arkansas (16-13, 4-10 SEC), 4-0. With the win, the Wildcats finished the 2025 campaign with an undefeated mark of 14-0 in matches played at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex.
The Cats finished the regular season with a newly-minted five match win streak, all at home, to wrap up the SEC slate with a .500 record. Kentucky scored points with wins in doubles and from Jack Loutit, Jaden Weekes, and Charlelie Cosnet in singles.
With the perfect home season, Kentucky is now 71-5 (.934) in matches played at the Boone since 2021.
The Wildcats started the match with a dominant doubles performance, highlighted by No. 18 Loutit and Eli Stephenson taking down No. 19 Connor Smillie and Jakub Vrba with an impressive 6-1 victory. The top Wildcat duo now owns five ranked wins, all coming within the last five weeks.
Weekes and Antoine Ghibaudo delivered the clinching blow to give the Cats a 1-0 advantage, breezing past Brendan Boland and Lukas Palovic to earn their second 6-2 win of the weekend.
Kentucky continued the momentum in the singles session, quickly taking four first sets. No. 50 Loutit was the first to complete his match, taking down Bozo Barun for his team-leading 17th singles win of the dual season. Loutit recovered from an early break and quickly flipped the momentum, eventually winning with a clinical 6-3, 6-2 score line.
No. 93 Weekes was soon to follow, giving the Cats a 3-0 lead with a 6-1, 7-5 win at No. 3 singles over Jakub Vrba.
A race between three Wildcats for the clinching points ensued, with Ghibaudo, Cosnet, and Matt Rankin all seeing multiple match points in a minute’s span. In the end, Cosnet delivered the final point for the second straight match.
The junior from Le Mans, France—who had not won a singles match since March 9 before Thursday—recovered from a first set defeat to storm back and deliver a 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Benni Emesz for his second clinch of the weekend.
No. 58 Ghibaudo had his No. 1 singles match abandoned as the freshman was within two points of his second ranked win of the weekend, leading 6-3, 6-6 (5-4) when the match concluded. Rankin was also two points away from victory when the match ended, leading 6-3, 6-6 (8-8). Stephenson had just begun his third set at No. 5 when play was suspended.
The Cats will now await for the rest of the conference to finish matches this weekend before learning their opponent for the first round of the SEC Tournament. Play from the Carolina Tennis Center in Columbia, S.C. will begin on Wednesday, April 16 and run until Sunday, April 20.
For the latest on UK Men’s Tennis, follow the Wildcats on X and Instagram at @UKMensTennis.
No. 36 Kentucky vs. No. 41 Arkansas
Doubles Results
- No. 18 Stephenson/Loutit (UK) def. No. 19 Smillie/Vrba (ARK) 6-1
- Breysach/Cosnet (UK) vs. Barun/Emesz (ARK) 5-5 (unfinished)
- Ghibaudo/Weekes (UK) def. Boland/Palovic (ARK) 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 3
Singles Results
- No. 58 Antoine Ghibaudo (UK) vs. No. 48 Lukas Palovic (ARK) 6-3, 6-6 (5-4) (unfinished)
- No. 50 Jack Loutit (UK) def. Bozo Barun (ARK) 6-3, 6-2
- No. 93 Jaden Weekes (UK) def. Jakub Vrba (ARK) 6-1, 7-5
- Charlelie Cosnet (UK) def. Benni Emesz (ARK) 1-6, 6-2, 6-4
- Eli Stephenson (UK) vs. Marino Jakic (ARK) 4-6, 6-2, 0-1 (unfinished)
- Matt Rankin (UK) vs. Arthur Bellegy (ARK) 6-3, 6-6 (8-8) (unfinished)
Order of finish: 2, 3, 4
