In a thrilling match, No. 10 Kentucky men’s tennis team emerged victorious with a dominant 4-0 win over Notre Dame on Friday afternoon at the Boone Tennis Center in Lexington, KY. With this win, Kentucky has advanced to the Championship match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend, where they will face either Alabama or Nebraska.
The Wildcats got off to a strong start by winning the doubles’ point, their third in four matches. After Notre Dame claimed a 6-1 victory at first doubles, Jaden Weekes and Eli Stephenson leveled the playing field with a 6-2 win over Nil Giraldez and Yu Zhang on court three. The doubles’ point ultimately came down to court two, where Taha Baadi and Matt Rankin overcame Notre Dame’s Chase Thompson and Evan Lee with a score of 6-4, giving Kentucky a 1-0 lead.
Moving on to singles, freshman Jack Loutit rebounded from his previous defeat with an impressive 6-2, 6-4 win over Notre Dame’s Jean-Marc Malkowski. With this victory, Loutit improves his singles record this season to 3-1. With Kentucky leading 2-0, fifth-year senior Baadi sealed a straight-set victory over Thompson at second singles, securing the Cats’ third point of the afternoon. Finally, it was Weekes who clinched the win for the Wildcats at third singles, triumphing in a second-set tiebreaker against Giraldez.
Kentucky’s next challenge will be the ITA Kickoff Weekend Lexington Regional Championship, taking place tomorrow at 3 p.m. The Wildcats will face the winner of the Friday evening match between Alabama and Nebraska. The champion of the Lexington Regional will earn a spot in the ITA DI National Men’s Team Indoor Championship, set to be held in New York from February 16-19.
In the doubles matches, the results were as follows:
Dominko/Malkowski (ND) def. Mercer/Lapadat (UK): 6-1
Baadi/Rankin (UK) def. Thompson/Lee (ND): 6-4
Stephenson/Weekes (UK) def. Giraldez/Zhang (ND): 6-2
The singles contests concluded with the following results:
Joshua Lapadat (UK) vs. No. 65 Sebastian Dominko (ND): 6-7 (4), 5-5 (unfinished)
Taha Baadi (UK) def. Chase Thompson (ND): 6-3, 6-4
Jaden Weekes (UK) def. Nil Giraldez (ND): 6-3, 7-6 (4)
Jack Loutit (UK) def. Jean-Marc Malkowski (ND): 6-2, 6-4
Charlelie Cosnet (UK) vs. Yu Zhang (ND): 2-1 (unfinished)
Eli Stephenson (UK) vs. Brian Bilsey (ND): 0-1 (unfinished)
