Kentucky men’s tennis kept its home winning streak alive with a pair of SEC victories over LSU and Vanderbilt.

Up first, Kentucky men’s tennis logged a strong victory over LSU with a final score of 5-2 on March 13.

The win snapped a two-match losing streak.

“Need to defend home, road matches are always tough, so it’s time to defend the house,” Head Coach Cedric Kauffmann said. “Thought Tennessee was some of our best play so far this season, time to keep it going.”

Defending home was exactly what the Cats did, starting strong with a 6-1 doubles win from Martin Breysach and No. 53 Jaden Weekes. No. 105 Charlelie Cosnet and Matt Rankin took a rough loss against Sasa Markovic and Andrej Loncarevic 6-2.

Eli Stephenson and No. 121 Jack Loutit would secure the doubles win for Kentucky with 6-3 win over Julien Penzlin and Aleksi Lofman, giving the Wildcats a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.

“Must win matches. We come out, we work hard, and think we practice harder than anyone,” said Assistant Coach Carey Rubin. “When were healthy were one of the best teams, me and Kauffmann both believe in how great this team is.”

The work and effort worked greatly with the Wildcats pulling off multiple comeback victories. After a strong doubles win, Weekes looked to continue his dominance in singles, but would have a rough first set, losing 6-2 against Markovic. He would come back stronger than ever, taking the second and third set 6-2, getting the win.

Loutit and Breysach would continue their great play with Breysach taking a 6-2, 6-1 win over Ishaan Ravichander. Loutit would take on Penzlin for a second time and would go 2-0 against him on the day with a 6-4, 6-4 victory, securing the win for Kentucky.

While the Wildcats had already defended their undefeated record at home, fans still witnessed Stephenson, Cosnet and Rankin finish their singles matches, looking to take advantage of the weather. After close close-fought first set, Cosnet would take the win 7-5, but couldn’t withstand the storm from Alessio Vasquez as he would take the second set 6-3 and then would take the tiebreaker.

Stephenson, after having a severe loss in the first against Enzo Kohlmann De Freitas, would come hungry for a victory, taking the second set in fashion with a 6-2 win and would complete the comeback, taking the third set 6-4.

Rankin would look to keep the comeback streak going after going down in the first set 6-4 against Loncarevic but would go down 6-3 in third set.

Then, Kentucky men’s tennis (11-6) put together a strong come-from-behind victory over Vanderbilt with a final score of 4-2 on March 15.

Coming off a big win on Thursday against LSU, Kentucky looked to keep the home wins coming and succeeded in pulling off a comeback win against the Commodores.

“Crucial, every SEC match-up is important, “ Assistant Head Coach Matthew Gordon said. “This one more than usual heading on the road next, winning today is a must.”

Keeping their momentum alive and continuing to defend their home court, the Wildcats would start down after going 2-1 in doubles play. Breysach and Cosnet would look to keep their great play going, but would go down to 6-4 against Dylan Charlap and Henry Ruger. Loutit and Stephenson would keep Kentucky alive with a hard-fought 7-5 victory over Michael Ross and Nathan Cox.

Antoine Ghibaudo and Weekes looked to seal the deal, but would fall short against Danil Panarin and Pablo Martinez-Gomez. They went back-and-forth, going to a tiebreaker game where Panarin and Martinez-Gomez would take the tiebreaker win 7-5, claiming the victory 7-6. The Commodores would head into singles play with a one-point advantage.

Kentucky looked to get its flow back in singles play, but would start dropping a singles match instead of winning. No. 105 ranked Cosnet was unable to recover from his doubles loss and would go down once more against Ross 6-1, 6-4 giving Vanderbilt a 2-0 lead.

The Wildcats then worked to battle back against the energy of the Commodores, starting with No. 70 ranked Ghibaudo picking up a 6-2, 6-3 win over Cox. It was Ghibaudo’s first match after dealing with a knee injury in the previous three matches. He was able to knock off the rust after his doubles match, picking up a strong win.

No. 121-ranked Loutit kept the comeback rolling with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Panarin to tie up the score for the Wildcats at 2-2. No. 53 Weekes would put Kentucky on top with a 6-3, 6-7(4-7), 6-3 victory against Martinez-Gomez, avenging his doubles loss.

Stephenson would put the nail in the coffin with a dominant win over Hugo Coquelin, taking the win 6-0, 6-2 to seal the victory for Kentucky.

Rankin was looking for a comeback of his own after losing his first set badly before taking the second set, but his match would go unfinished.

The Kentucky Wildcats will now start a four-game road journey, starting with heading down to Auburn on March 20. The match will take place at the Yarbrough Tennis Center at 4 p.m. ET.