Jomby's Journal: WHAT A MATCH!!!

Wednesday afternoon, the University of Kentucky men’s tennis team defeated the No. 1 team in the country, Ohio State, 4-1. The No. 14 Kentucky men's tennis team was excited to play against the Buckeyes for a second time this season after their deceiving first opposition in February, losing 4-0. “ I have to admit losing 4-0 on the road over there was a tough one," said senior Alejandro Gomez. “We had match point in doubles; we had chances on the 3 remaining matches. That was really tough to swallow but it made us work harder." Wednesday was a new day, and a new day means a new match. “ I was so excited to play this match," said freshman Jerry Lopez. “It’s an exciting feeling to play the best team in the country." It didn’t start the way head coach Cedric Kauffmann would have dreamed. “The first 20 minutes of the doubles were not very good," he admitted. “The double point is so important, I was a little worried." On court 1, the No. 20 doubles team in the nation, Kevin Lai and I lost 8-4 against Peter Kobelt and Ralf Steinback. On court 2, Beck Pennington and Alejandro Gomez were losing 5-0 before they started their unbelievable comeback. They won 7 out of the 8 following games to be leading 7-6 and having their first match point but ended up getting broken. It all went down to a stressful tiebreak. They had to come back again in this tiebreaker when losing 6-4 and having to save two match points to finally clinch an 8-7 win. [caption id="attachment_156287" align="alignnone" width="600"] Alejandro Gomez and Beck Pennington celebrating their double’s win.[/caption] On court 3, Ryuji Hirooka and Nils Ellefsen were also down a break early. Losing 4-1, they broke back to make it to 4-4. They broke Ohio State’s serve at 6-5 and were in position to clinch the doubles point, but Tom Jomby three-set singles clinched the match against #1 Ohio State, but hey got broken and forced a tiebreak -- as if it weren't suspenseful enough already. After 75 minutes of doubles action, UK won the doubles point and went back to the locker room win the 1-0 overall lead. After the coaches left the locker room before singles play, I told the guys, “ Today, I got my point guys, we just need two more." Immediately after I said that, Alejandro Gomez started feeling so excited and yelled, “ Hey I got mine too bro!" And after that Beck Pennington screamed, “Hey I’m not losing to this guy again." Alejandro Gomez kept his promise, winning straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, against No. 75 Herrko Pollanen. He gave us the 2-0 lead in the match. [caption id="attachment_156288" align="alignnone" width="600"] Alejandro Gomez in action with his powerful forehand.[/caption] Around 20 or 30 minutes after Gomez finished his match, I looked at the scoreboard and I saw sophomore No. 113 Beck Pennington up 6-4, 5-4 and about to win his match too. I knew he would finish and that the match would come down to either me or Grant Roberts, who was in his third set too. In my mind I was like, “They did what they said in the locker room, now it’s my turn." I am not going to lie, when I heard the screaming from court 3 following Beck’s win, it gave me a hell of a lot of motivation. I knew my opponent, Peter Kobelt, as it’s the third time I had played him in a year. I know what he does really well but I also know some of his weaknesses. I got off to a rough start, but losing the first set 6-3 didn’t scare me. He wasn’t outplaying me; I was just not playing my best. When it’s like that you know you have your chances. I was playing well in practice for the past three days and I felt like at some point I would finally have chances and make my way up. I had to wait until the middle of the second to break him for the first time. Kobelt's biggest weapon is his huge serve. I broke him to be up 5-2 and held my serve to win the second set, 6-3. In the third set, a big crowed showed to the center courts. I started the right way with a break at 2-1 to take the 3-1 lead. I then broke again at 4-1 to take the 5-1 lead. All of the pressure was on my shoulders but I took care of business and served the match out. What a great feeling! [caption id="attachment_156289" align="alignnone" width="600"] Tom Jomby three-set singles clinched the match against #1 Ohio State[/caption] After the match, volunteer coach Anthony Rossi said, “That was a hell of an effort from the guys today." Cedric Kauffmann added “We can beat a team like Ohio State, but we can also lose to South Carolina. We always have to be prepared." The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team is back on the court today to play the 35th-ranked Gamecocks. The final regular season SEC match will be Sunday at 1:00 pm against the No. 15 Florida Gators. It will also be our Senior Day and you all are more than welcome to come cheer on the Cats. A video of the Wednesday's celebrations... [Photos via UKAthletics.com]