No. 9 men’s tennis takes down No. 22 IU

%C2%A0

 

Staff report | @KYKernelSports

[email protected]

Following a weekend sweep of NKU and Morehead State, the ninth-ranked men’s tennis team went on the road and beat the No. 22 ranked Indiana Hoosiers 5-2, moving to 3-0 on the season.

In the doubles matches, the Cats won two of three, as juniors Alejandro Gomez and Ryuji Hirooka won 8-5 and junior Grant Roberts and senior Anthony Rossi won 8-6. The No. 35 ranked doubles team of junior Tom Jomby and freshman Kevin Lai lost 8-6, their first defeat of the season.

After winning the doubles point the Cats held strong in singles. No. 94 Rossi won 6-4, 6-1 and No. 15 Jomby won 7-6, 6-4 to give the Cats the clinching point in the victory. Roberts gave the Cats a 5-0 lead after defeating IU freshman Chris Essick 6-1, 7-6.

“We didn’t start this match the way we wanted to,” senior captain Anthony Rossi told UK Athletics. “But, we had the courage and determination to turn things the other way. After the doubles, we had the momentum in our favor and we just used it the best we could to close out the match.”

Head coach Cedric Kauffmann, who got his third win at UK, was pleased with his team’s victory.

“This is a very good win for us today,” he said. “This is a tough place to play and Indiana is a team that could have beaten us. It was a good learning experience for us today.”

The Cats will next take the court Friday afternoon at the opening day of action for the 2013 ITA Kick-Off Weekend. They will play host to Texas, South Carolina and Michigan State. UK will face off with the Spartans at 1 p.m. Friday followed by Texas vs. South Carolina at 5 p.m. The winners will face off Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m. preceded by the third place match at 1 p.m.