Men’s Tennis Loses 5-2 Battle to No. 17 Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. – No. 12 Ole Miss (9-9 6-5 SEC) fell to No. 17 Kentucky (16-6, 6-2 SEC) on the road Friday evening.

The Rebels came up short, 5-2, in a close match to the Wildcats. Ole Miss won three matches versus Kentucky, one in doubles and two in singles. The Rebels competed versus their 14th ranked opponent and 11th top-25 opponent this season.

Ole Miss dropped the opening doubles point 2-1. Kentucky jumped ahead to a 1-0 lead by taking No. 3 Doubles, 6-2. No. 1 Tim Sandkaulen and Finn Reynolds leveled doubles at 1-all by winning 7-5 over Kentucky's No. 20 Cesar Bourgois and Gabriel Diallo. Reynolds and Sandkaulen extended their current winning streak to six and improved to 12-2 overall this season. The pairing earned their highest-ranked win of the season, and they have defeated five top-40 opponents in the last six matches. The Wildcats proceeded to clinch the opening decision point as Millen Hurrion and Liam Draxl defeated Brady Draheim and Simon Junk, 6-4, at No. 2 Doubles.

Kentucky extended their overall match lead to three by winning Singles No. 2 and No. 5 in straight sets. Down 3-0, the Rebels made a valiant comeback attempt. At the time of the Wildcats' second singles victory, the Rebels had forced Kentucky to a third set on Courts No. 1, 4 and 6, and Nikola Slavic went one set up on Court No. 3. Junk narrowed the deficit to two by defeating Kentucky's Alexandre Leblanc via a dominant performance in the second and third sets. Junk won 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 to earn his seventh dual singles victory this season. The Wildcats then clinched the match, 4-1, as John Hallquist Lithén fell in three sets to Kentucky's Cesar Bourgois, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6.

The two teams proceeded to play out the two remaining matches. Kentucky extended their lead to 5-1 by winning Court No. 1. No. 7 Draxl defeated No. 11 Reynolds in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Reynolds' record worsened to 2-3 against top-15 opponents this season. To cap off the contest, Slavic earned his eight ranked victory of 2021 by defeating No. 60 Hurrion, 7-6 (10), 2-6, 1-0. Slavic increased his overall win total this season to 12 to lead the Rebels.

Coming Up

Ole Miss closes out the regular season at Vanderbilt on Sunday at noon CT.

Singles Results

No. 7 Liam Draxl (UK) def. No. 11 Finn Reynolds, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
No. 31 Gabriel Diallo (UK) def. No. 55 Tim Sandkaulen, 6-2, 6-4
No. 32 Nikola Slavic def. No. 60 Millen Hurrion (UK), 7-6 (10), 2-6, 1-0 (8)
Cesar Bourgois (UK) def. John Hallquist Lithén, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
No. 97 Joshua Lapadat (UK) def. Lukas Engelhardt, 6-4, 6-1
Simon Junk def. Alexandre Leblanc (UK), 4-6, 6-1, 6-1

Doubles Results

No. 1 Tim Sandkaulen/Finn Reynolds def. No. 20 Cesar Burgois/Gabriel Diallo (UK), 7-5
Liam Draxl/Millen Hurrion (UK) def. Brady Draheim/Simon Junk, 6-4
Alexandre Leblanc/Joshua Lapadat (UK) def. Jakob Cadonau/Nikola Slavic, 6-4

For more information on Ole Miss Men's Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissMTennis, on Facebook at OleMissMTennis and on Instagram at OleMissMTennis, follow Coach Hansson on Twitter at @TennisToby.

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Jakob Cadonau

Brady Draheim

Lukas Engelhardt

Simon Junk

Finn Reynolds

Tim Sandkaulen

Nikola Slavic

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