LEXINGTON, Ky. – Ole Miss men’s tennis came up short in their matchup with reigning national runners-up Kentucky on Friday, as the Rebels ended up falling 4-0 to the Wildcats in Lexington.
The Rebels (12-5, 2-3 SEC) were unable to conjure up any momentum against the Wildcats (18-2, 6-1 SEC) on the day, with the No. 6 ranked Kentucky squad only dropping one set to Ole Miss in singles en route to their sweep victory.
Kentucky came out strong from the beginning, earning the match’s doubles point after claiming wins on Court 1 and Court 2 over the Rebels. The match served as an experimental one for the Rebels, with two of the three doubles pairings playing in their first matches together this spring. John Hallquist Lithen and Simon Junk also made the move up to No. 1 singles for the Rebels, falling 6-3 in their match.
Moving to singles play, the Rebels fought hard to battle back against the Wildcats with John Hallquist Lithen winning his opening set of No. 2 singles 6-4 to help fire the team up. The Kentucky squad maintained their form from doubles, however, capturing a quick 6-0, 6-0 win on Court 3 to increase their lead to 2-0.
Now in the driver’s seat, Kentucky carried their momentum to the finish line with straight-set wins over Noah Schlagenhauf on Court 5 and Nikola Slavic on Court 1 to clinch the 4-0 victory for the Wildcats. The loss moves Ole Miss to 12-5 on the season and 2-3 in SEC play, heading into their Sunday matchup with Vanderbilt.
Singles matches for John Hallquist Lithen, Lukas Engelhardt and Isac Strömberg would all go unfinished for the Rebels.
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