Men’s Tennis Opens NCAA Tournament with First Round Tilt Against Old Dominion

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.– Kentucky is set to open its 2025 NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament campaign on Friday, May 2, taking on Old Dominion at 2 p.m. ET at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex in Winston-Salem, N.C. in a First Round contest.

The Cats and Monarchs are joined in Winston-Salem by host and No. 1 national seed Wake Forest and Big South Champion Gardner-Webb. The Demon Deacons and Runnin’ Bulldogs will play following Kentucky-Old Dominion, with the two winners meeting in a Second Round tilt on Saturday, May 3 at 5 p.m. ET.

The Wildcats enter their ninth straight NCAA Tournament after finishing the regular season 16-11 (7-7 SEC), including a perfect 14-0 record in home matches. Kentucky is led by a trio of ranked singles players—No. 53 Antoine Ghibaudo, No. 58 Jack Loutit, and No. 78 Jaden Weeks. Loutit and Eli Stephenson also team up on the doubles court to rank No. 12 in the country. Recently, Ghibaudo was named First Team All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman, while Loutit was honored on the Second Team All-SEC.

This year’s tournament marks the first time that the Cats have gone on the road for postseason play since 2019, when Kentucky also traveled to Wake Forest. In fact, this is the third time that the Wildcats have opened up the NCAA Tournament in Winston-Salem, making second round appearances in both 2017 and 2019.

Old Dominion earned its bid to the 2025 NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament as the automatic qualifier out of the Sun Belt, amassing a 17-8 record and compiling a perfect 7-0 mark in conference play. The Monarchs are led by Sun Belt Player of the Year Cosme Rolland de Ravel and NCAA Singles Tournament qualifier Connor van Schalkwyk. Friday’s match will be the first meeting between the two programs.