Kentucky men’s tennis (17-13, 5-9 SEC) opened up the SEC Tennis Championship with a 4-2 win over Arkansas (16-14, 3-11 SEC), but then came up short against No. 12 Georgia (18-7, 9-5 SEC) with a final score of 4-2.
The Wildcats started strong in the tournament with their win over Arkansas, getting revenge for their 4-3 loss at the hands of the Razorbacks in the regular season. With this win, Kentucky has now eliminated Arkansas from the tournament in four of the last six seasons.
The Razorbacks took the early 1-0 lead with two doubles wins. Arkansas’ Conor Smillie and Lukas Palovic upset No. 90 Matt Rankin and Nicolas Arseneault with a 6-2 win. This was followed by Razorbacks Brendan Boland and Dmitry Kopilevich topping Martin Breysach and Jaden Weekes 6-3 to clinch the first point.
The Wildcats would storm back in their singles play, however, with four Cats claiming their first sets. Weekes led the charge with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Gabriel Elicha Navas. No. 82 Jack Loutit would give the Cats their first lead of the contest with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Arsene Pougault.
The Razorbacks responded by tying up the match, with Boland defeating Rankin 7-5, 6-3 to bring the score to a level 2-2.
The Wildcats did not look back in the final stretch, eventually winning 4-2 highlighted by stellar play from both No. 54 Arseneault and No. 21 Eli Stephenson. No. 54 Arseneault would win 2,6 6,2 6,1 over Ben Weintraub and No. 21 Stephenson won 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 over Palovic.
Day two of the SEC Tennis Championship would see the Cats face off against the No. 12 Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs got out to an early lead, winning in doubles.
Georgia began with Will Jansen and Gabrielle Vulpitta winning the first set against Breysach and Weekes 6-2. Then, No 12. Arda Azkara and Santiago Giamichelle followed that up with a 6-4 win over No.17 Loutit and Stephenson, clinching the first point.
Singles play also saw a slow start for the Cats, where they only won two out of the first six sets.
Weekes was able to fly through his set against Giamichelle, winning 6-2, 6-3 and tying up the contest for the Cats.
The Bulldogs would take back the lead with Vulpitta beating Rankin in two close sets. No. 82 Loutit would fall to Noah Johnston, losing 6-0, 6-1, 6-3, pushing the Georgia lead to 3-1.
No. 114 Charlelie Cosnet then cut the Bulldogs’ lead with a comeback over Derrick Chen. Chen would take the first set 6-4, but Cosnet proceeded to storm back, winning the next two sets. Cosnet won with a score of 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
The Bulldogs did, however, go on to clinch the match with No. 42 Jansen defeating No. 54 Arseneault with a final score of 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-3.
The Cats will now wait until the Selection Show on April 27 to see if they get a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament. The Selection Show is set to air at 4 p.m. ET.
