Kentucky advances to third straight Elite 8

The fifth-seeded Kentucky men’s tennis team (27-2, 12-0 SEC) will now head to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the third consecutive year and seventh time in program history after defeating the No. 12 seed Harvard Crimson (22-7, 6-1 Ivy), 4-2, at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex in Lexington on Saturday afternoon.

“I’m just so happy for the boys,” UK head coach Cedric Kauffman said afterward. “They’ve been working hard since August when we first came on campus. It’s a great victory for us and our program. My players were connected to the crowd and the crowd was connected to the players, so that helped us push through at the end.”

Doubles play started off strong for the Wildcats with all three courts taking an early lead. Court two was first to claim a victory, as the duo of fifth-year Taha Baadi and freshman Jack Loutit defeated Harvard’s Ronan Jachuck and Melchior Delloye, 6-4. The No. 4 Kentucky pairing of Joshua Lapadat and JJ Mercer nabbed the doubles point for the Cats and earned their eighth ranked win of the season after defeating the No. 19 Crimson pair of Daniel Milavsky and Cooper Williams, 6-3.

The Wildcats kept the momentum going into the singles session, as they claimed the first set on four of six courts. Harvard would fight back to level the match after their win at third singles. Freshman Eli Stephenson would be first to add a singles point for Kentucky, after he defeated Masato Perera, 6-1, 7-5, in straight-sets. Shortly thereafter, sophomore Charlelie Cosnet extended the Wildcat lead after claiming court four in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5.

With the Cats only searching for one more point, the Crimson attempted to claw their way back after No. 66 Henry von der Schulenburg defeated No. 80 Lapadat. Both Baadi and Loutit each moved to third sets after falling in the second, 2-6 and 3-6 respectively. No. 28 Baadi defeated No.15 Williams, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to clinch the match for the Cats.

Kentucky improves to 7-5 in the all-time series against the Crimson and has won the last four matchups, including a 5-2 win in Lexington earlier this season.

The Wildcats will next head to Stillwater, Oklahoma for its NCAA Quarterfinals match against fourth-seeded TCU on Thursday, May 16th. Match time will be announced by the NCAA in the coming days.