Two days of chaos in Orlando ends in disappointment for Kentucky men's tennis
It was a wild 18-24 hours for Kentucky men’s tennis as they began play in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament. There was good chaos for the ‘Cats and some bad chaos.
Orlando, FL certainly delivered some storylines for No. 4 Kentucky. They faced a familiar foe with a spot in the Final Four on the line. Unfortunately, a strong season came to an end at the hands of No. 5 Virginia on Friday afternoon. The Wildcats were beaten 4-2 as a season with mile-high expectations came to a close.
The ‘Cats and Cavaliers have had some battles over the course of a year. The first came in the 2022 National Championship match where Virginia was victorious 4-0. Fast forward to this February, and Virginia found themselves ranked No. 1 in the country. Kentucky trotted into Charlottesville boasting an undefeated record and knocked off the then-No. 1 Cavaliers. Both squads faced off again in Orlando, where UVA proved again to be Kentucky’s postseason kryptonite.
An Elite Eight match that started Thursday at 5:00 p.m. wasn’t concluded until Friday afternoon. A mixture of thunder and lightning delayed the match overnight. While a plethora of pauses made it impossible for the match to conclude Thursday night, Friday action began at 10 a.m., perhaps favoring the Cavaliers.
Kentucky saw its early Thursday evening lead trickle away as both teams re-started play.
Just the beginning
It truly was just the beginning of a long, 18-plus hours of tennis on Thursday afternoon. Doubles action didn’t disappoint with a resilient effort from Kentucky in store. Liam Draxl and Jaden Weekes got to work early, playing in third doubles. The duo got the Wildcats halfway to the doubles point with a 6-3 win in their respective match. After Draxl and Weekes’ win, things got crazy in Orlando.
Originally trailing 5-0, Joshua Lapadat and JJ Mercer came all the way back to tie the match 5-5. In addition to this crazy rally, first doubles pairing of Alafia Ayeni and Taha Baadi were in the later stages of their respective match with the doubles point hanging in the balance. Lapadat and Mercer saw their inspired comeback cut short, as they were beaten 7-5. This meant that it would all come down to the match on court one with Ayeni and Baadi.
Kentucky’s first singles pairing was as even as they could be in a match, going into a 6-6 tiebreaker. As if the tiebreaker needed more separation, both squads were stuck in a back-and-forth battle. The last time the tiebreaker was tied it was at 9-9 — before Kentucky rallied off two straight points to win the doubles point.
A UVA forehand went wide and Baadi and Ayeni won the tiebreak 11-9 and their match 7-6. The ‘Cats had captured doubles and took a 1-0 lead into singles. The start of a good night looked to be ahead until Mother Nature had something to say about it.
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It’s Friday Morning?
The festivities resumed on Friday morning. Virginia was off to a rapid start, winning four of its six first sets and really setting the tone in singles play. The momentum wouldn’t cool off for the Cavaliers. They won three straight singles matches to completely flip the script. Liam Draxl, Taha Baadi, and Jaden Weekes all fell in straight sets and all of a sudden UVA led 3-1.
With their backs on the wall, Ayeni would have to salvage Kentucky’s season.
There may not have been a better man to keep the ‘Cats alive than Ayeni. The Cornell transfer won his match in three sets 7-6 (2), 1-6, 6-3 to cut the UVA lead to 3-2. This left Lapadat and the hero from the Sweet 16, Charlelie Cosnet, to round out their matches.
The Wildcats, who love their comebacks and dramatic finishes, weren’t able to claw back into the match. Cosnet ultimately lost his third-set tiebreak 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) and UVA had punched its ticket to the Final Four. Virginia ended the Wildcats’ season by a final score of 4-2 and demonstrated that Kentucky tournament kryptonite for the second consecutive season.
Solo Kentucky
All said and done, this wasn’t the end of tennis action for Kentucky men’s tennis. The NCAA singles tournament gets underway on Monday, May 22 and there will be Wildcat representatives.
Ayeni and Draxl will be competing while Lapadat is likely to play, but is an alternate as things currently stand. One door did unfortunately close, but another one opens for Kentucky.
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