LEXINGTON, Ky. – No. 18 Auburn men’s tennis suffered a road loss to Kentucky on Sunday afternoon, falling 5-2 at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex in Lexington. The Wildcats claimed the doubles point and four singles matches to win the match, while Auburn’s Nicholas Heng and Alan Bojarski each earned singles victories.
Kentucky made an opening statement on the top doubles court, winning 6-1. At the No. 2 doubles position, Auburn’s Heng and Joey Phillips earned a 6-4 win to have the point decided on court three. With the match tied at four, Kentucky’s Mikael Arseneault and Matt Rankin won two straight games to claim the match at No. 3 doubles 6-4 and clinch the doubles point.
With the indoor courts at the Boone Tennis Complex accommodating only four matches at a time, the top four positions began singles play. The momentum initially turned toward the Tigers, as they earned the opening set in three of the four matches.
At the No. 3 position, Heng took an early lead over Jaden Weekes to earn a 6-3 opening-set win before dominating the second set to claim the match in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1. The win improves the redshirt junior’s record to 15-7 overall and 11-3 in dual matches this season.
Kentucky’s Jack Loutit bounced back from an opening-set loss to Auburn’s Freddy Blaydes on court four by winning the next two sets to regain the lead for the Wildcats at 2-1. At the No. 2 singles position, Auburn senior Billy Blaydes pulled away late to win the opening set over Nicolas Arseneault 6-4, but Arseneault ultimately claimed the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to give Kentucky a 3-1 lead.
On the top singles court, Kentucky’s 24th-ranked Eli Stephenson earned an early break over Auburn’s Hamza Nasridinov before claiming the opening set 6-3. Nasridinov then overcame a 3-1 deficit in the second set to take a 6-5 lead before the set went to a tiebreaker. The Auburn sophomore won the tiebreaker to force a third set, but Stephenson claimed the final set 6-2 to clinch the team victory for the Wildcats.
After the match was clinched, Auburn freshman Alan Bojarski took advantage of early leads in both sets against No. 77 Charlelie Cosnet at the No. 5 singles position to win 6-2, 6-4. The victory improved Bojarski’s singles record to 7-3 this spring and marked his second ranked singles win.
Kentucky completed the match with a victory at the No. 6 position to set the final score at 5-2.
The loss drops the Tigers’ record to 14-3 overall this season and 4-2 in conference play. Up next, Auburn will remain on the road to face Oklahoma on Friday evening at 5 p.m. CT before traveling to Arkansas on Sunday at noon CT.
#33 Kentucky 5, #18 Auburn 2
Singles Results:
- #24 Eli Stephenson (UK) def. #33 Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2
- #102 Nicolas Arseneault (UK) def. #61 Billy Blaydes (AUB) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
- Nicholas Heng (AUB) def. Jaden Weekes (UK) 6-3, 6-1
- #38 Jack Loutit (UK) def. Freddy Blaydes (AUB) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0
- Alan Bojarski (AUB) def. #77 Charlelie Cosnet (UK) 6-2, 6-4
- Mikael Arseneault (UK) def. Manel Lazaro (AUB) 5-7, 7-6 (6), [10-8]
Doubles Results:
- #19 Jack Loutit/Eli Stephenson (UK) def. #25 Billy Blaydes/Freddy Blaydes (AUB) 6-1
- Nicholas Heng/Joey Phillips (AUB) def. Martin Breysach/Charlelie Cosnet (UK) 6-4
- Mikael Arseneault/Matt Rankin (UK) def. Jake Kennedy/Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) 6-4
Time of match: 4:47 Order of finish: Doubles: 1,2,3; Singles: 3,4,2,1,5,6