LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 40 LSU men’s tennis team (8-4, 0-3 SEC) fell to No. 6 Kentucky (14-2, 2-1 SEC) by a score of 1-6 on Thursday, March 9 at the Boone Tennis Center.

Doubles 

In the No. 1 spot, No. 35 Stefan Latinovic and Nick Watson competed against Alafia Ayeni and Taha Baadi, falling 2-6. 

On court 3, Julien Penzlin and George Stoupe faced Liam Draxl and Jaden Weekes. The Wildcats took the match 6-3, putting  Kentucky on the scoreboard 1-0. 

Chen Dong and Welsh Hotard took on No. 56 pair Joshua Lapadat and JJ Mercer on court 3. The Tigers were up 5-4 when the match went unfinished. 

Singles 

In the No. 6 spot, Penzlin faced No. 112 Charlelie Cosnet. The Tiger fought hard in set one, falling 5-7, before going on to drop set two, 2-6. Kentucky’s lead extended to 2-0.

Dong competed against No. 47 Lapadat on court 3. The Tiger fell 3-6, 3-6. Florida’s score advanced to 3-0.

On court 1, No. 55 Ronnie Hohmann went against No. 23 Draxl. Hohmann took set one 6-4 before going on to fall 0-6, 1-6.Kentucky’s lead extended to 4-0, officially winning the match. The rest of the singles matches continued to play out. 

Latinovic faced No. 28 Ayeni in the No. 2 spot. Set one went to the Wildcat, 6-2. Latinovic came back to even the match 6-3 in the second set. In the third set, it was a back-and-forth battle with Ayeni getting the win 7-6(5). Kentucky’s score extended to 5-0.

Stoupe competed against Weekes on court 5. The Tiger dropped set one 2-6. Set two was a battle, but Stoupe lost (4)6-7. Kentucky’s lead advanced to 6-0.  

In the No. 4 spot, Hotard faced No. 102 Baadi. The Tiger took set one 7-6(6) before the Wildcat came back to even the match 7-5. In a 10-point tiebreaker, Hotard secured the win 10-5, placing LSU on the scoreboard.The final score of the match was 6-1 Kentucky.

Up Next

The Tigers will travel to Knoxville to face No. 20 Tennessee on Saturday, March 11 at 12:00 p.m. CT. 

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#6 Kentucky 6, #40 LSU 1

Singles Competition

  1. #23 Liam Draxl (UK) def. #55 Ronald Hohmann (LSU) 4-6, 6-0, 6-1
  2. #28 Alafia Ayeni (UK) def. Stefan Latinovic (LSU) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5)
  3. #47 Joshua Lapadat (UK) def. Chen Dong (LSU) 6-3, 6-3
  4. Welsh Hotard (LSU) def. #102 Taha Baadi (UK) 7-6 (8-6), 5-7, 1-0 (10-5) 
  5. Jaden Weekes (UK) def. George Stoupe (LSU) 6-2, 7-6 (7-4)
  6. #112 Charlelie Cosnet (UK) def. Julien Penzlin (LSU) 7-5, 6-2

Doubles Competition

  1. Alafia Ayeni/Taha Baadi (UK) def. #35 Stefan Latinovic/Nick Watson (LSU) 6-2
  2. #56 Joshua Lapadat/JJ Mercer (UK) vs. Chen Dong/Welsh Hotard (LSU) 4-5, unfinished 
  3. Liam Draxl/Jaden Weekes (UK) def. Julien Penzlin/George Stoupe (LSU) 6-3

Match Notes:

LSU 8-4; National ranking #40

Kentucky 14-2; National ranking #6

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (6,3,1,2,5,4)