PREVIEW: Kentucky Men’s Tennis vs Virginia in NCAA Finals
The No. 8 seed Kentucky Wildcats (26-7) will play the No. 6 seed Virginia Cavaliers (27-5) Sunday, May 22 at 4:00 PM EST in the NCAA finals in Champaign, Illinois, with a chance to bring home a tennis national championship to Lexington for the first time. The forecast is sunny and breezy so the match will likely take place outdoors unless heavy winds move it inside.
If you can’t make the five-hour trip up north, watch on the TennisONE app for free.
The Wildcats knocked off DePaul (4-0), Northwestern (4-2), and #9 Wake Forest (4-2) in Lexington to make their first quarterfinal since 2011 and punch a ticket to Illinois. There they knocked off #1 TCU in the Elite 8, 4-3, and then took down No. 4 Ohio State in the Final Four to set up the showdown with Virginia.
Virginia, which began the season 5-5, is currently on a 22-match win streak. The Cavaliers stunned defending champion and No. 2 seed Florida 4-1 in the quarterfinals and mauled No. 6 Tennessee in the semis 5-0. Most experts picked Florida to repeat as national champions, but the ‘Hoos of UVA rolled past them and are now trying to knock off the top three SEC teams in succession. UVA has won four national championships (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017) that followed several runner-up finishes to USC.
Quarterfinal Results:
#8 Kentucky 4, #1 TCU 3
#4 Ohio State 4, #5 Michigan 2
#6 Tennessee 4, #3 Baylor 3
#7 Virginia 4, #1 Florida 1
Semifinal Results
#8 Kentucky 4, #4 Ohio State 1
#7 Virginia 5, #6 Tennessee 0
NCAA Men’s Final Schedule (Sunday, May 22)
#8 Kentucky vs # 7 Virginia – 4:00 PM EST (Kahn Tennis Center – University of Illinois)
Scoring
All lets are played. Singles matches are best of three tiebreak sets, with no-ad scoring. Doubles matches are one set. Whichever school wins two doubles matches earns the doubles point. Singles matches are worth one point each.The first team to win four points captures the match.
Kentucky vs Virginia: Potential Matchups
No. 1 Singles: #4 Liam Draxl (JR) CANADA (16-7) vs #30 Chris Rodesch (SO) LUXEMBOURG (15-6)
No. 2 Singles: #21 Gabriel Diallo (JR) CANADA (21-3) vs #39 Inaki Montes (SO) SPAIN (10-3)
No. 3 Singles: #83 Millen Hurrion (5TH) ENGLAND (22-7) vs #45 Jeffrey von der Schulenburg (SO) SWITZERLAND (17-1)
No. 4 Singles: Francois Musitelli (5TH) FRANCE (18-9) vs #96 Ryan Goetz (SR) NEW YORK (20-4)
No. 5 Singles: Joshua Lapadat (SO) CANADA (21-3) vs Gianni Ross (5TH) CHICAGO (19-2)
No. 6 Singles: JJ Mercer (SO) WEST VIRGINIA (7-10) vs Bar Botzer (5TH) ISRAEL (10-7)
No. 1 Doubles: #55 Musitelli/Hurrion (5-6) vs #61 Botzer/Rodesch (9-5)
No. 2 Doubles: Diallo/Lapadat (5-3) vs Goetz/Montes (13-4)
No. 3 Doubles: Draxl/Alexandre LeBlanc (JR) CANADA (8-5) vs Ross/Schulenburg (6-2)
Virginia knocked off Kentucky 4-2 midway through the regular season in Lexington. Here are the results from that indoor match.
#8 Virginia 4, #12 Kentucky 2 (March 31, 2022)
Singles competition
1. #94 Liam Draxl (UK) def. #29 Inaki Montes (VA) 2-6, 6-2, 7-5
2. #16 Chris Rodesch (VA) def. #114 Millen Hurrion (UK) 7-6 (7-0), 3-6, 6-3
3. #59 J vd Schulenburg (VA) def. #9 Gabriel Diallo (UK) 3-6, 7-5, 6-4
4. #75 Ryan Goetz (VA) def. #61 Francois Musitelli UK) 6-4, 6-2
5. Bar Botzer (VA) def. #95 Joshua Lapadat (UK) 6-1, 6-4
6. JJ Mercer (UK) vs. Gianni Ross (VA) 1-6, 1-1, unfinished
Order of finish: 4, 2, 3, 1, 5*
Doubles competition
1. Millen Hurrion/Francois Musitelli def. Inaki Montes/Ryan Goetz (VA) 6-4
2. #51 Chris Rodesch/Bar Botzer (VA) def. Joshua Lapadat/JJ Mercer (UK) 6-3
3. Liam Draxl/Alex LeBlanc (UK) def. Gianni Ross/J vd Schulenburg (VA) 7-6 (10-8)
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3*
Path to a Wildcat victory
The ‘Cats have dropped the doubles point in their last three matches and have been saved by stellar singles play. Virginia has won the doubles against Florida and Tennessee and will be favored again. During the regular season, Kentucky actually won the doubles over UVA, with Musitelli/Hurrion winning on court 1 and Draxl/LeBlanc winning a tight tiebreaker over Ross/Schulenburg on court 3. Courts 1 and 2 will likely have different combinations this time but court 3 is projected to be a rematch.
Virginia features the perfect combination of talented youth (sophomores Rodesch, Montes, and Schulenburg) at the top, with seasoned veterans (Goetz, Ross, Botzer) at the bottom. Botzer played court 4 on the 2018 national champion Wake Forest team before transferring to UVA this season.
Kentucky got wins on courts 1-4 in their wins over No. 1 TCU and No. 4 Ohio State. Diallo (court 2) and Hurrion (court 3) are undefeated in NCAA tournament matches this season.
The only scheduled rematch from the regular season is Goetz vs Musitelli on court 4, which Goetz won the first time 6-4, 6-2. Unless Musitelli can turn that result around, the Cats’ likeliest path to victory is Draxl on 1, Diallo on 2, Hurrion on 3, and Lapadat on 5.
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