Men’s tennis falls in quarterfinals of SEC Tournament

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Staff Report | @KyKernelSports

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After a small margin of victory Thursday in the SEC Tournament, the UK men’s tennis team fell to Georgia, 4-3.

The Cats’ first match lasted more than six hours and pushed well into the early morning hours of Friday, meaning the Cats had a quick turnaround before facing No. 2 Georgia, a team that had not played in four days.

The Cats lost the doubles point for the third consecutive match but had winning performances from senior Anthony Rossi, freshman Kevin Lai and freshman Beck Pennington.

No. 17 Rossi upset No. 6 KU Singh, 7-6, 6-3, to get the Cats’ first point of the day. It was the second time Rossi has defeated Singh this season.

Lai upset Georgia’s Hernus Pieters at a point when UK needed to win both remaining matches to advance.

Pennington, who won the final point Thursday night, picked up his second win of the SEC Tournament by defeating Georgia’s Austin Smith, 6-3, 7-6.

The Cats fell one point short as Georgia’s Nathan Pasha held on to beat UK’s Charles Minc in a three-set match. Despite winning the first set, 6-4, Minc could not win either of the remaining sets and fell to Pasha, 6-3, 6-2, to end the match.

No. 11 UK will now await its postseason fate, which will be revealed April 30. The top 16 teams will host their first- and second-round matches.