No. 37 Kentucky men’s tennis (9-6, 2-3 SEC) opened play strong with a win over No. 20 Oklahoma (10-4, 2-3 SEC).
The Wildcats found themselves in an early hole after dropping the doubles point. Martin Breysach and Charlelie Cosnet fell 6-1 to Oscar Lacides and Asahi Harazaki. Oklahoma quickly secured the point when Nicolas Arseneault and Jaden Weekes lost 6-2 to Alejandro Melero and Hank Trondson.
No. 19 Eli Stephenson and Jack Loutit finished their match, but Oklahoma maintained the momentum, topping it off with a 6-3 win from No. 53 Luis Alvarez and Bruno Nhavene.
Kentucky responded in singles, beginning with a dominant turnaround from Weekes, who earned a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Orel Kimhi.
The Wildcats could not immediately build on that momentum. No. 102 Arseneault dropped a tight 6-4, 6-4 match to No. 108 Lacides, and No. 38 Loutit suffered a similar 6-4, 6-4 loss to Johan Rodriguez, giving Oklahoma a 3-1 advantage.
With the match on the line, No. 24 Stephenson halted the Sooners’ push with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 45 Alvarez, avenging the earlier doubles loss.
No. 77 Cosnet followed with some revenge of his own, defeating No. 109 Harazaki 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 to even the match.
The duel ultimately came down to the final court between Mikael Arseneault and Trondson. After dropping the opening set 6-4, Mikael battled back to claim the second set 7-5 before sealing the comeback with a 6-3 third-set victory, securing the upset win for the Wildcats.
Kentucky looked to keep its momentum going as it finished its road trip in Fayetteville but fell just short, losing 4-3 to No. 41 Arkansas (12-6, 1-4 SEC).
The Wildcats once again found themselves in an early hole after dropping the doubles point. Arseneault and Weekes fell 6-1 to No. 28 Jakub Vrba and Connor Smilie, giving the Razorbacks early momentum. Arkansas secured the doubles point shortly after with a 6-3 win from Brendan Boland and Dmitry Kopilevich over Breysach and Cosnet.
With the point already decided, No. 24 Stephenson and Loutit saw their match halted while leading 5-3 over Ben Weintraub and Eric Padgham.
Arkansas carried that momentum into singles play. Weekes was the first to finish, falling 6-2, 6-1 as he struggled to find his rhythm.
Despite the 2-0 deficit, Kentucky stayed within striking distance as Cosnet earned the Wildcats’ first point of the day with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Arsene Pougault.
Kentucky continued to build momentum when Mikael secured a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 win over Boland. Loutit then delivered another key result, defeating Kopilevich 7-5, 6-4 in a tightly contested match to give Kentucky its first lead of the day.
Needing just one more win to clinch the dual, the Wildcats looked poised to secure a weekend sweep, but Arkansas responded. Lukas Palovic rallied past Mikael, taking the final two sets 6-4, 6-1 after dropping the opener 6-2 to even the match at 3-3.
The battle ultimately came down to the top singles court between No. 24 Stephenson and No. 21 Vrba. Stephenson dropped a tight first set 7-5 but responded with a strong 6-3 second-set victory to force a deciding third set.
The final frame remained tightly contested and was ultimately decided in a tiebreak. Despite a strong start, Stephenson fell 8-6 in the tiebreak, sealing the Razorbacks’ 4-3 victory.
