The No. 2 Virginia men's tennis team suffered its first loss of the season as it was upset 4-3 at No. 14 Kentucky Saturday. The loss snapped the Cavaliers' 63-match regular season winning streak, which dated back to 2006. In their second match of the day, Virginia defeated Eastern Kentucky 6-0 in the nightcap of the doubleheader.
The Cavaliers (4-1) fell behind early against Kentucky, being swept in the doubles for a 1-0 deficit. Early in singles, Virginia drew even as Drew Courtney (Clifton, Va.) topped Graham Dyce 6-2, 6-1 at No. 4 singles. But the Wildcats retook the lead, 3-1, as Eric Quigley topped Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) at No. 1 singles and Alex Musialek defeated Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) at No. 2 singles. Virginia rallied to tie the match at 3-3 as Jarmere Jenkins (College Park, Ga.) downed Brad Cox 7-6, 7-6 at No. 3 and Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) won in three sets over Anthony Rossi at No. 5 singles. In the final match on the courts, Alberto Gonzalez topped Lee Singer (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) at No. 6 singles 6-3, 7-6 to clinch the win for Kentucky.
In the second match of the day for Virginia, the Cavaliers used six other players to top Eastern Kentucky 6-0. Philippe Oudshoorn (Apeldpoorn, The Netherlands), Steven Eelkman Rooda (Amersfoort, The Netherlands), Milo Johnson (Tulsa, Okla.), Julen Uriguen (Guatemala City, Guatemala), Santiago Villegas (Bogota, Colombia) and Dino Dell'Orto (Hong Kong, China) won for the Cavaliers. Doubles was not played.
The Cavaliers return home next weekend next weekend as they host the 2010 ITA National Team Indoor Championships at the Boar's Head Sports Club. The tournament runs from Feb. 12-15 and admission is free. Virginia is the No. 2 seed and will open play Friday at 6:30 p.m. against No. 15 seed Alabama.
Courtesy VirginiaSports.com