It was a wild 18-24 hours for Kentucky men\u2019s tennis as they began play in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Men\u2019s Tennis Tournament. There was good chaos for the \u2018Cats and some bad chaos. <\/p>\n
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. <\/strong><\/p>\n The \u2018Cats and Cavaliers have had some battles over the course of a year. The first came in the 2022 National Championship match<\/a> 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<\/a>. Both squads faced off again in Orlando, where UVA proved again to be Kentucky\u2019s postseason kryptonite. <\/p>\n An Elite Eight match that started Thursday at 5:00 p.m. wasn\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n Kentucky saw its early Thursday evening lead trickle away as both teams re-started play.<\/p>\n It truly was just the beginning of a long, 18-plus hours of tennis on Thursday afternoon. Doubles action didn\u2019t 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\u2019 win, things got crazy in Orlando. <\/p>\n Originally trailing 5-0, Joshua Lapadat and JJ Mercer came all the way back<\/strong> 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. <\/p>\n Kentucky\u2019s 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 \u2014 before Kentucky rallied off two straight points to win the doubles point. <\/p>\n A UVA forehand went wide and Baadi and Ayeni won the tiebreak 11-9 and their match 7-6. The \u2018Cats 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. <\/p>\nJust the beginning <\/h2>\n