No. 8 Kentucky men’s tennis managed to hold off Memphis 4-3 in a tightly contested bout in Lexington.
The Wildcats, down two of their players, were caught off guard early with Memphis taking two of the three doubles matches to secure the point and take a 1-0 lead.
“We knew we were going to be a little shorthanded… but the six players this week trained well and were excited to play, we trust them,” Head Coach Cedric Kauffmann said.
Though the Wildcats struck first in singles off the racket of No. 79 Charlelie Cosnet with scores of 6-3 and 7-6 (7-5), they quickly found themselves on the backfoot again as No. 39 Jaden Weekes dropped his sets on court one 6-4 and 7-6 (7-2).
From there, another pair of matches were split between the teams. Down 3-2 on points, both Eric Crivei and Matt Rankin would need to win their sets so that the Cats could escape with a victory.
With both matches beginning almost simultaneously, Crivei would keep Kentucky’s hopes alive, winning his sets with scores of 6-3 and 6-4.
All eyes shifted to the match being played on court two between UK’s Rankin and UM’s Sam Reeve.
Both teams gathered around the court to cheer on their teammates as the first set shifted back-and-forth with neither player able to distance themselves from the other.
The first set went to a tiebreaker as Rankin seemed to find another gear and was able to finally separate himself, winning the set 7-6 (7-2).
Taking the inertia he gathered in the first set, Rankin would establish an early lead and ride it out to a 6-3 win.
After the clinching win, Rankin was treated to a Gatorade bottle shower by his teammates as they celebrated in the locker room after the match.
The Wildcats are now 5-0 at home to start the season and will look to build on that momentum as they leave Lexington.
“On the road we just got to block out the noise and just keep to your gameplan, stay together… and play some good tennis,” Kauffmann said.
The Cats will take on Louisville on Feb. 2 at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center, with the intention of improving their all-time record against the Cardinals to 30-0.
