Kentucky men’s tennis (8-5, 1-2 SEC), seeking revenge against No. 16 Florida (7-5, 1-2 SEC), came up just short in a 4-3 loss.
Kentucky came out strong, taking the doubles point. Charlelie Cosnet and Martin Breysach set the tone with a decisive 6-2 win over Kevin Edengren and Andreas Timini.
Florida evened things up when Jaden Weekes and Nicolas Arseneault fell 6-3 to Pablo Perez Ramos and Tanapatt Nirundorn.
With the doubles point on the line, No. 23 Jack Loutit and Eli Stephenson faced No. 89 Lorenzo Claverie and Henry Jefferson. After a back-and-forth battle, the match was pushed to a tiebreaker. The teams traded points deep into extra play before Loutit and Stephenson secured a 13-11 win, giving Kentucky a 1-0 lead heading into singles.
Singles opened with momentum shifting toward Florida. No. 16 Stephenson struggled in the first set against No. 41 Ramos, dropping it 6-2. He kept the second set competitive early, but Ramos pulled away late to close it out 6-3.
No. 94 Arseneault looked to answer against No. 29 Jefferson and kept the opening set tight before narrowly losing 7-5.
Unable to regain momentum in the second set, frustration kept growing for Arseneault. One smashed racket later and a dropped 6-1 second set gave Florida the lead.
The match quickly turned into a nail-biter, with each of the four remaining singles courts going to a third set.
After dropping the first set 6-3, Mikael Arseneault responded with purpose, evening the match with a 6-3 second-set win. The third set remained tight throughout.
Following a brief stoppage to address a potential injury to Arseneault, he was unable to fully recover and fell 6-4, putting Florida one point away from clinching the match.
Kentucky refused to back down.
No. 91 Cosnet rebounded after losing the opening set 6-2. He battled back to take the second set 7-5 and forced a decisive third-set tiebreaker, which he won 7-4 to keep the Wildcats alive.
Matt Rankin followed with another crucial point. After dropping a competitive first set 6-4, Rankin responded by taking the second set 7-6 in a tiebreaker. He carried that momentum into the third, closing it out 6-4 to even the overall score at 3-3.
The match ultimately came down to No. 38 Loutit and Claverie. Loutit overcame a slow start to claim the first set 7-5. Claverie answered by winning the second-set tiebreaker 7-4. Following a closely contested third set it would come down to a winner-take-all third-set tiebreaker.
Just four points into the tiebreaker, Loutit was assessed a game penalty following a line-call overrule. It marked his third code violation of the match, resulting in a default of the tiebreaker and awarding the final point to Florida.
With the loss, Kentucky falls to 0-2 against Florida this season.
The Wildcats will look to rebound as they travel to Norman to face Oklahoma on March 6 at the Headington Family Tennis Center. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET.
