Kentucky is set to open 2018 play with a doubleheader against Eastern Kentucky and Northern Kentucky on Friday inside the Boone Tennis Center. Play will begin at 11 a.m. against EKU, while UK will face NKU at 3 p.m. Admission is free to both matches.
As a team, Kentucky is currently receiving votes, and three Wildcats are ranked in the last national singles rankings poll, which came out on Nov. 15.
Junior Ryo Matsumura is the highest ranked Wildcat at No. 34. Matsumura was second team All-SEC in 2017, and finished with a singles record of 11-10. Last season, he earned two wins over ranked opponents, and helped with a doubles victory over No. 1 Virginia.
Senior Trey Yates is ranked No. 77. He went 6-4 in singles play last season, and held a four-match SEC winning streak, beating players from Auburn, No. 21 Mississippi State, No. 26 South Carolina and No. 45 Vanderbilt. He helped earn one doubles ranked victory after pairing up with Matsumura.
Senior Will Bushamuka is ranked No. 84 in the nation. Last season, Bushamuka was an ITA All-American after advancing to the round of 16 in the NCAA Singles Tournament. Bushamuka was also a member of the All-SEC first team, and went 14-7 in the singles dual season. He had four wins over top-10 opponents, including the No. 4 player in the nation. He finished the spring season ranked No. 14 in final ITA rankings.
Eastern Kentucky started its season last weekend and is 0-2 so far. EKU fell to DePaul, 3-4 and to Purdue, 0-7. Against DePaul, Ramon van Flymen, Parth Aggarwal and Gabriel Ruiz earned wins in singles.
The match with UK will be NKU’s first match of the season. NKU will face EKU next Saturday in Richmond, Kentucky.
Kentucky will wrap up the weekend at Notre Dame on Sunday at noon. UND has one ranked player, No. 45 Alex Lebedev.
For more information on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow @UKMensTennis on Twitter or Kentucky Men’s Tennis Team on Facebook.
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For more information contact:
Mike Scholze
