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Men’s Tennis Ranked Preseason No. 7
Total of six singles players ranked in the ITA singles preseason poll, more than any other school in the country
LEXINGTON,
Ky. – After setting a school record with 29 wins last season en route
to an appearance in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight and Southeastern
Conference Tournament Finals, the University of Kentucky men’s tennis
team will begin the 2012 season ranked seventh in the nation with a
school record six ranked singles players, according to the
Intercollegiate Tennis Association preseason rankings.
The
No. 7 ranking is the highest a Kentucky tennis team has been ranked
since the 2010 team peaked at No. 6 in the nation midway through the
season. The No. 7 preseason mark is the highest preseason ranking for
the Wildcats since the 1997 team spent a majority of the season ranked
in the top five. This is the third year in a row that Kentucky has been
ranked in the top 15 in the preseason rankings after sitting No. 12
last season and No. 14 in 2010.
On top of the high team
ranking, a total of six Wildcats are ranked in the ITA preseason
singles poll, placing Kentucky with more ranked singles players than
any other school in the nation.
“We are ranked seventh
in the country in large part because of how we finished last season,”
said UK head coach Dennis Emery, who is entering his 30th season as
head coach of the Wildcats. “The good thing is that we have a team that
realizes our current record is 0-0 and we have to continue to work hard
to improve on last year’s performance. Our staff and players feel we
have a team that can do that.”
All six players projected
to be in the lineup for Kentucky this spring are ranked in the
preseason singles poll, including seniors Eric Quigley and Alex
Musialek, who sit at No. 5 and No. 13, respectively. Quigley finished
the fall season at 19-4, winning the singles consolation title at the
ITA All-American Championships and qualifying for the National Indoors,
while Musialek went 11-4 en route to claiming the ITA Ohio Valley
Regional Indoor singles title.
“The singles rankings are
an indication of the hard work that our guys put in this fall and this
summer to get ready for the spring,” Emery said. “All six players we
have in our top rotation are ranked. I think that is the first time
that has ever happened for our program.”
Junior Anthony
Rossi sits at No. 36 in singles rankings after an impressive fall
campaign. The native of Marseille, France, went 10-2 during the fall,
claiming the Duke Fab Four Invite singles title and advancing deep into
the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Indoor Championships.
Three
sophomores complete the rankings for Kentucky, with Panav Jha sitting
at No. 85, Tom Jomby at No. 95 and Alejandro Gomez at No. 111. Jha went
10-5 this fall, while Jomby recorded a 7-3 record and Gomez shined in
his first fall season going 15-2.
“One of the things I
like about this team is for the second year in a row we have a team
that has been built from within,” Emery said. “Last year we started two
seniors, two juniors, a sophomore and a freshman, and this year we are
going to start two seniors, a junior and three sophomores. So we are
basically playing with an experienced team that knows what it takes to
win. These guys have been to the SEC Championship, they have played in
the NCAA Elite Eight and the National Indoors. I like the way that our
team is set up in terms of the depth that we have and the experience
that they have had.”
Including the Wildcats, a total of
eight SEC schools are ranked in the preseason poll with Georgia leading
the pack at No. 4. Florida earned a preseason ranking of No. 8,
followed by Tennessee at No. 13, Mississippi State at No. 16, Auburn at
No. 21, Ole Miss at No. 24, Vanderbilt at No. 37 and Alabama at No. 51.
Kentucky
is currently in Hawaii for the Rainbow Warrior Challenge, which will
take place Saturday and Sunday. After the event, UK will come home to
host the SEC Coaches’ Indoor Championships at the Hilary J. Boone
Tennis Complex beginning Jan. 13. The Wildcats’ spring season begins
Jan. 22 against Michigan State in Indianapolis, Ind.
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