College Tennis News - Oklahoma Falls to Kentucky

No. 8 Oklahoma lost its first match of the season on the road to No. 9 Kent...

NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 8 University of Oklahoma men's tennis team (4-1) lost, 4-3, to No. 9 Kentucky (6-0) Sunday, Feb. 3, at the Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Center in Lexington, Ky.

"We lost a tough one today," OU head coach John Roddick said. "I give Kentucky a ton of credit for pulling out the doubles and the last singles match. We have to do a much better job of closing matches out when we have the opportunities. We competed incredibly hard all night and I was very proud of our effort."

All three doubles matches went to tiebreaks, but Kentucky topped the Sooners to claim the team point.

OU fought back during singles to tie the match 3-3.

Freshman Leonard Stakhovsky played the determining match at the No. 6 position. He won the first set 6-4. Kentucky's Grant Roberts came back to win the second set 6-4. The third set went back-and-forth until Roberts won the set 7-5, winning the match for Kentucky.

Oklahoma returns home to play No. 22 Tulsa Friday, Feb. 8, at 5:30 p.m.

Follow @OU_Tennis on Twitter and like Oklahoma Men's Tennis on Facebook for more information on the men's tennis program.

No. 9 Kentucky 4, No. 8 Oklahoma 3

Doubles

1. Tom Jomby/Kevin Lai (UK) def. Costin Paval/Dane Webb (OU), 8-7 (5)

2. Guillermo Alcorta/Axel Alvarez Llamas (UK) def. Ryuji Hirooka/Alejandro Gomez (UK), 8-7 (6)

3. Anthony Rossi/Grant Roberts (UK) def. Peerakit Siributwong/Leonard Stakhovsky (OU), 8-7 (4)

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1

Singles

1. Costin Paval (OU) def. Anthony Rossi (UK) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4

2. Tom Jomby (UK) def. Guillermo Alcorta (OU), 6-4, 7-5

3. Dane Webb (OU) def. Alejandro Gomez (UK), 6-2, 4-6, 6-3

4. Axel Alvarez Llamas (OU) def. Juan Pablo Murra (UK), 7-6 (2), 6-3

5. Charles Minc (UK) def. Peerakit Siributwong (OU), 6-2, 6-2

6. Grant Roberts (UK) def. Leonard Stakhovsky (OU), 4-6, 6-4, 7-5

Order of finish: 3, 2, 4, 1, 5, 6*