No. 27 Kentucky men’s tennis (15-10, 5-7 SEC) pulled out a 4-3 upset win over No. 12 Georgia (15-7, 7-5 SEC) on senior day.
The Wildcats celebrated three seniors — Martin Breysach, Charlelie Cosnet and Jaden Weekes — before the match and came out strong in doubles play.
No. 19 Jack Loutit and Eli Stephenson led the way for the Wildcats, putting the first win of the day on the board. The duo, coming in as the underdog, earned a 7-5 victory over No. 13 Arda Azkara and Santiago Giamichelle.
Nicolas Arseneault and Weekes secured the doubles point with a 7-3 tiebreaker win over Derrick Chen and Noah Johnston.
Georgia picked up a doubles win as Will Jansen and Gabriele Vulpitta defeated Cosnet and Breysach 7-4 in a tiebreaker. The match marked the final home appearance for both seniors.
Despite the hot start, the Wildcats could not carry the momentum into singles play, losing the first set across all six matches.
The Bulldogs capitalized, beginning with Johnston defeating Mikael Arseneault 6-4, 6-1 to even the score.
After falling just short 6-4 in the first set, Weekes responded with a 6-1 second set, but could not maintain the momentum, falling 6-2 in the third to give Georgia the lead.
No. 70 Arseneault battled No. 40 Jansen in a tightly contested match but fell short in two tiebreak sets, 7-4 and 11-9.
With the win, Georgia needed just one more point to clinch the match.
No. 24 Stephenson, matched up with No. 35 Azkara, rebounded after dropping the first set 6-1. Stephenson found his rhythm, taking the second set 6-3 before closing out the match 7-5 in the third.
With the win, Kentucky got its first singles point on the board.
The Wildcats still needed to win both remaining matches, and Matt Rankin delivered. After a competitive first set, Rankin fell in the tiebreaker 7-2, but responded strongly with a 6-2 second set and secured the match with a 6-4 third set win.
With the score tied at 3-3, it came down to No. 71 Loutit and Chen.
After dropping the first set 6-2, Loutit recovered to win the second set in a 7-3 tiebreaker.
“This season has been tough on me,” Loutit said. I’ve really struggled at the start of matches, especially after doubles, so I kind of knew that I needed to turn this match around, like if I could because I saw all the other guys lost their first sets as well. So I was kind of just, I got to compete, get louder and see what happens.”
In the third, Loutit jumped out to a 5-1 lead, but Chen battled back to win four straight games and tie the set.
The match came down to a tiebreaker, where Loutit pulled ahead and sealed the win 8-6 to give Kentucky the victory.
“I’m just so happy because first of all it’s my last match here at UK,” Cosnet said. “But I’m just happy for the guys that played, they played unreal. We lost first set in all six singles and found a way to comeback. So that’s toughness right there, and I’m just so happy today.”
The match lasted four hours and 15 minutes and featured eight tiebreakers.
“I feel great,” Kentucky head coach Cedric Kauffman said. “We’ve lost some tough ones this season. You know, on the four and three last match, on some small issues, on just competing throughout the matches. We didn’t start well in singles, but the way they competed from all the courts actually from the beginning of the second set till the end of the match and they deserve this win.”
Kentucky will look to carry its momentum on the road for its final two regular season matches. The Wildcats will travel to Baton Rouge on April 10 to face LSU at the LSU Tennis Complex. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.
