Wildcats Wrap Up Fall Season at NCAA Singles Championship
ORLANDO, Fla. – Kentucky men’s tennis players Jack Loutit and Eli Stephenson bowed out of the 2025 NCAA Singles Championship in the Round of 32. With the results, the fall portion of the 2025-26 schedule is completed.
No. 28 Loutit dropped a 6-4, 6-3 decision to No. 111 Max Dahlin of Michigan. Dahlin, a redshirt freshman, remains undefeated in his collegiate career.
The two players traded breaks to open the match and then proceeded to play four consecutive games on serve. Serving at 3-3, Loutit held a 40-15 advantage but lost three consecutive points to go down the break. It would prove to be the decisive point in the opening set, although Loutit did see two break points when Dahlin was serving out the set.
In the second, the players started on even footing once more, holding for the first six games. Dahlin would once again gain the upper hand on the decisive points, winning the final four games of the match to seal a 6-4, 6-3 win.
Stephenson fell to No. 83 Ilia Snitari of UNLV—another player who has yet to lose a match in his collegiate career—in a tight, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-3 battle that nearly lasted three hours.
After dropping serve in the opening game, Stephenson leveled the opening set on his second return game, a position the match would hold for nearly an hour. Despite both players holding break opportunities in multiple games, the first set would ultimately wind up in a tiebreak. Snitari held an early 4-2 lead at the changeover, but the Wildcat All-American won five consecutive points to take the opening frame.
In the second, Snitari jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Holding advantages of 3-0 and 5-1, the Rebel would easily push the match into a deciding set.
After a pair of holds to start the third, Stephenson had a golden opportunity to take control of the match, holding four break points in the 1-1 return game. However, Snitari saved all four to keep the match level. The holds would continue until the eighth game when, at 4-3, 30-30, Snitari reeled off a pair of return points to snatch the decisive break. Despite opposition from Stephenson, Snitari would hold in the following game to secure the win.
The Cats will return to the court in January for the beginning of the team portion of the season. A full spring schedule will be released at a later date.
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