Men's Tennis Closes out March on the Road
3/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The 62nd-ranked men's tennis team (13-12, 2-5 SEC) will travel to Knoxville and Lexington to take on No. 52 Tennessee (10-8, 2-4 SEC), Kentucky (8-12, 0-6 SEC) and Morehead State (4-10) on Friday and Sunday. Friday's match against the Volunteers will begin at 1 p.m. CT, and matches on Sunday versus the Wildcats and Eagles will begin at Noon CT and 5 p.m. CT, respectively.
The Crimson Tide went 1-2 last weekend, falling in Southeastern Conference play to No. 23 LSU, 4-3, and No. 7 Texas A&M, 4-1, before securing a 5-1 victory against Mercer on Sunday evening. Nikko Madregallejo won all three of his singles matches throughout the weekend, including a 6-3, 6-2 victory over No. 48 Harrison Adams, which was his first match against a nationally ranked opponent this season.
In the latest ITA rankings, which were released on Tuesday, Korey Lovett entered the singles list for the first time in his career, coming in at No. 88, while he and doubles partner Becker O'Shaughnessey stand at No. 29.
The Volunteers played one match last weekend, falling to the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville, 4-1. The bulk of Tennessee's wins have come at home as the Volunteers hold a 7-1 overall record in Knoxville. UT currently has two players ranked in singles with No. 16 Mikelis Libietis and No. 119 Jack Schipanski. Tennessee also has the No. 2 doubles team with defending national champions Hunter Reese and Libietis.
Kentucky also took on the Commodores in its lone match last weekend where the Wildcats fell, 4-3. UK is 5-6 in Lexington this season, however each of those wins has come against non-conference opponents. The Wildcats have one player ranked in singles with No. 62 Beck Pennington and two duos ranked in doubles, with No. 59 Kevin Lai and Pennington and No. 79 Jerry Lopez and William Bushamuka.
Morehead State will be playing its third match against an SEC opponent when it meets up with Alabama in Lexington as the Eagles have played Kentucky twice. The Wildcats won a 6-0 decision on Feb. 14 in Lexington and a 4-0 sweep in Morehead exactly one month later on March 14.
The Tide boasts a 24-20-1 all-time record against Kentucky, with UA's last win coming a year ago in Tuscaloosa. Alabama currently trails Tennessee, 11-39, with the last win coming for the Tide in 2012. This will be the first match in the program's history against Morehead State.
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