Alabama
Kentucky
Men's Tennis Downs Kentucky 5-2
3/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 21, 2008
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The 23rd ranked Alabama men's tennis team defeated No. 63 Kentucky today, 5-2, at the UA Varsity Courts on the University of Alabama campus. With the win Alabama improves to 14-5 overall and 4-1 in the SEC.
"I am happy with the way our guys competed and executed today in getting a solid win over Kentucky," said head coach Billy Pate. "The last two years we've had nail-biters where we let them off the hook and lost 4-3."
Alabama started off the match in the right direction by picking up the doubles point. The Tide's Saketh Myneni and Andrew Felsenthal earned the first point at No. 3 doubles and the 12th ranked tandem of Daniel Buikema and Mat Thibaudeau clinched the point at No. 1.
In singles, Sammy Struyf, Javier Bes, Michael Jung and Thibaudeau contributed wins in the Tide victory. Thibaudeau was the first player to earn a singles point at No. 2. After 23 minutes of competition, the match was defaulted due to un-sportsman like conduct by Kentucky's Will Ward.
Bes added the third point for the Tide. He came from behind in the first set to defeat Will Beck at No. 5, 7-5, 6-2. Struyf clinched the match for Alabama from No. 3 singles. Down 4-1 in the second set tiebreaker, Struyf rallied back to win the match 6-2, 7-5(6).
Jung added the fifth and final point for the Tide at No. 6 singles over Alberto Gonzalez. He won 3-6, 6-3, 10-6.
"We have another tough challenge ahead on the road at Vanderbilt on Sunday," said Pate.
Alabama travels to Nashville, Tenn. tomorrow before taking on Vanderbilt Sunday. Live statistics for the match will be available at www.rolltide.com.
#23 Alabama 5, #63 Kentucky 2 UA Varsity Courts Tuscaloosa, AL
Singles: 1. #48 Bruno Agostinelli (UK) d. #85 Saketh Myneni (UA) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 2. #88 Mat Thibaudeau (UA) d. Will Ward (UK) 3-2, def. 3. Sammy Struyf (UA) d. Brad Cox (UK) 6-2, 7-6(6) 4. Marcus Sundh (UK) d. Daniel Buikema (UA) 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-3 5. Javier Bes (UA) d. Will Beck (UK) 7-5, 6-2 6. Michael Jung (UA) d. Alberto Gonzales (UK) 3-6, 6-4, 10-6 Doubles: 1. #12 Buikema/Thibaudeau (UA) d. Sungh/Ward (UK) 8-4 2. Agostinelli/Cox (UK) d. Struyf /Bes (UA) 8-5 3. Felsenthal/Myneni (UA) d. Beck/Collins (UK) 8-4 Order of finish: Singles (2,5,3*,4,6,1); Doubles (3,2,1) -UA-
Players Mentioned
