University of Kentucky men’s tennis seniors Eric Quigley and Alex Musialek began their run in the 2012 NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles Championship by each posting first round wins on Wednesday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. UK junior Anthony Rossi dropped his first round match to second-seeded Mitchell Frank of Virginia.
This is the second consecutive season that Quigley and Musialek have advanced past the first round and into the round of 32. Both players will resume action in the event Thursday with Quigley taking on No. 18 Andreas Mies of Auburn at 10 a.m., while Musialek faces No. 52 Ignacio Taboada of Georgia at 1 p.m. Quigley will also participate in the NCAA Doubles Championship on Thursday when he teams with sophomore Panav Jha to battle Gregg Cohenca and Evan Zimmer of Bucknell at 3 p.m. ET. All times are Eastern.
“A really good start to the tournament for our guys,” UK head coach Dennis Emery said. “I was very pleased with how both Eric and Alex approached their matches today. It was a workmanlike performance by both players and I look forward to the same type of effort tomorrow in the second round. Anthony also gave great effort tonight, but just fell a little short to a premier player.”
Quigley, who is ranked third in the country and seeded third in the singles event, began the day with a straight-sets win over No. 41 Andre Dome of Cal-Poly. After starting off slow in the first set, Quigley rallied to earn a 7-5 win and continued that momentum into the second set for a 6-4 win to claim the match. The native of Pewee Valley, Ky., is now 49-7 on the season.
Musialek, who is ranked 15th in the nation and seeded in the 9-16 group, would use a come-from-behind effort to get his first-round victory. The UK star held serve for much of the first set before No. 69 Damian Hume of Boise State was able to grab a late break and earn the 7-5 victory. Musialek would respond, getting an early break in the second set for a 6-1 win and then keeping the pressure on in the third set for a 6-2 victory to earn the match. The native of Dax, France, is now 29-11 on the season in singles.
The sixth-ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis team won the doubles point, but could not continue its momentum in singles action, dropping a 4-1 decision to No. 11 Stanford in the NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament Round of 16 on Friday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
“A disappointing outcome for us, but a great season for our program,†UK head coach Dennis Emery said. “I told the team after the match to not let this match determine how you look at your team. We have had one of the best years in the history of our school. We finished 28-6. We won the Southeastern Conference Championship for only the second time in school history. And we went undefeated in conference play for the first time ever. There are a lot of great memories for this team that they need to remember.â€
The loss concludes Kentucky’s season with an overall record of 28-6, the second-most wins in the history of the program. Last year’s team set the school record for wins in a year with a 29-9 mark. UK ends the season with a .778 winning percentage, which is the third highest in the history of the program behind the 1988 and 1992 teams. Kentucky ends the season with a 23-6 record against currently ranked teams. More specifically, UK was 11-6 against teams currently ranked in the top 25, including three wins over teams in the top 10. Since the start of the 2009 season, Kentucky has won an impressive total of 31 matches against top 25 foes.
“We had great leadership all year from our co-captains Alex Musialek and Eric Quigley and that was something we went over after the match,†Emery said. “Those two have just been so good at the top of our lineup and so fun to coach.â€
The loss does not completely end Kentucky’s season as four individuals will stay in Athens over the weekend for the beginning of the singles and doubles championships. Quigley, Musialek and Rossi will each participate in the NCAA Singles tournament, while Quigley and Jha will take part in the doubles championship. A complete draw is expected to be release later this weekend. The first rounds of both events will begin Wednesday.
#11 STANFORD (20-8) def. #6 KENTUCKY (28-6), 4-1 – McWhorter Courts
Doubles (Order of finish: 3,1)
1.      #7 Panav Jha/Eric Quigley (KENTUCKY) def. Denis Lin/Ryan Thacher (STANFORD), 8-2
2.      #38 Alex Musialek/Anthony Rossi (KENTUCKY) vs. Bradley Klahn/John Morrissey (STANFORD), 4-5, unfinished
3.      Alejandro Gomez/Tom Jomby (KENTUCKY) def. Jamin Ball/Matt Kandath (STANFORD), 8-2
Singles (Order of finish: 1,2,5,4*)
1.      #36 Bradley Klahn (STANFORD) def. #3 Eric Quigley (KENTUCKY), 6-1, 6-2
2.      #29 Ryan Thacher (STANFORD) def. #15 Alex Musialek (KENTUCKY), 6-1, 7-5
3.      Matt Kandath (STANFORD) vs. #22 Anthony Rossi (KENTUCKY), 6-3, 3-6, 5-4, unfinished
4.      John Morrissey (STANFORD) def. #80 Tom Jomby (KENTUCKY), 6-1, 3-6, 5-4, default
5.      Daniel Ho (STANFORD) def. #111 Alejandro Gomez (KENTUCKY), 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
6.      Robert Stineman (STANFORD) vs. Grant Roberts (KENTUCKY), 6-3, 4-6, 1-1, unfinished
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After rallying for two scores in the top half of the seventh, the Kentucky softball team fell in heartbreaking fashion in the home half of the inning to drop a 3-2 contest to No. 21 Michigan in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The loss sends the Wildcats to the elimination side of the bracket where UK will need to win four times to advance to a Super Regional. UK is set to play the loser of the Valparaiso-Louisville contest at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday with the game airing live on ESPN.
In what was an eerily similar contest to Kentucky’s dramatic win over the Wolverines a season ago, Kentucky rallied from a 1-0 deficit in the top half of the seventh to take a 2-1 lead. Michigan, however, answered the call with a two-out two-run double to earn the walk-off win over Kentucky.
UK drops to 29-29 on the season with Michigan improving to 40-15. Senior Chanda Bell worked 6.2 innings, allowing seven hits and striking out two for the Wildcats. Michigan’s freshman hurler Haylie Wagner picked up her 30th win of the season, tossing seven innings while striking out four Wildcat batters. Sophomore Ginny Carroll led the offensive output with a perfect 3-for-3 day at the dish while scoring what was the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh.
With the Wildcats trailing by a run going into their final at-bat, junior Alice O’Brien led off the frame with a base-hit knock that found grass in right field. After a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Lauren Cumbess, Carroll sliced a single over the head of the first basemen to put runners on the corners with one out. After Wagner recorded a strikeout, UK struck for its first run when sophomore Emily Jolly reached first on a fielder’s choice, with O’Brien scoring from third.
Senior Brittany Cervantes then fought off several pitches before lacing a ball to the shortstop, which was fumbled, allowing Carroll to score from second, and plate the go-ahead run on the error. The inning closed on a 5-3 put out with UK in front 2-1.
Wolverine right fielder Lyndsay Doyle led off the bottom of the seventh with a single up the middle that got a rally started for the Maize and Blue. On a bullet hit to Kara Dill, the junior cleanly fielded the ball, and got the lead runner on a force to record the inning’s opening out. Slapper Nicole Sappingfield smacked a single up the middle with one down to put runners at first and second. Big 10 Player of the Year, Amanda Chidester, fouled out to Carroll in left for the second out before clean-up hitter Sara Driesenga laced a two-run double into left field to plate the winning runs to earn the walk-off 3-2 win.
Behind winning the Southeastern Conference Championship with an undefeated record in league play, the sixth-ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis team has received an at-large selection into the 2012 NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament, the NCAA announced Tuesday.
Kentucky (26-5) was selected as one of 16 host sites for the event, marking the fourth consecutive season the Wildcats will host the first and second rounds of the tournament. UK, which is the top seed in the Lexington Regional and the sixth overall seed in the tournament, will be joined in Lexington by No. 27 Indiana (21-8), No. 37 Louisville (18-9) and No. 75 Radford (20-5)
First round action at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex will begin on Friday, May 11, while the winners from Friday will meet in the second round Saturday, May 12. The second-round winner advances to Athens, Ga., where the remaining rounds along with the singles and doubles championships will take place May 18-28 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. A complete schedule of events with times is posted below.
“This is always the most exciting time of the year and it’s an exciting day when the draw comes out for the NCAAs,†UK head coach Dennis Emery said. “It looks like the NCAA committee did a good job of working within the parameters that they have. Looking at the brackets, this regional is one of most balanced regionals in country. It would be great to have big crowds out next weekend to really create a home court advantage.â€
The Wildcats are making their 23rd showing in the NCAA Tournament, including 18 of the last 19 years. This is the ninth time since 2000 that UK has hosted the first and second rounds, including four consecutive years. Last year, UK defeated Cleveland State and in-state foe Louisville to advance to the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season. All of UK’s NCAA appearances have come under Emery’s direction.
Kentucky is currently ranked sixth in the nation, continuing its streak of 17-consecutive weeks with a top 10 team ranking. Emery’s Wildcats have been ranked sixth in the nation or higher in two of the last three seasons. UK was ranked sixth in 2010 after its historic win over No. 2 Virginia. Prior to the 2010 season, Kentucky had not earned a ranking of sixth or higher since the 2002 campaign.
The Wildcats have fared very well against teams that currently make up the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, posting an overall 23-5 record against ranked teams. More specifically, UK is 11-4 against teams currently ranked in the top 25, including three wins over teams in the top 10. Since the start of the 2009 season, Kentucky has won an impressive total of 31 matches against top 25 foes.
Individually, UK is well represented in both the ITA singles and doubles rankings. Six UK players are in the singles rankings, including three in the top 25 in third-ranked Eric Quigley, 15th-ranked Alex Musialek and 21st-ranked Anthony Rossi. The Wildcats are one of only two teams in the nation that have three players ranked in the top 25, joining top-ranked and two-time defending NCAA Champion Southern California as the two schools that can claim that honor. Rounding out the singles rankings are No. 80 Tom Jomby, No. 112 Panav Jha and No. 119 Alejandro Gomez. Quigley and Jha are ranked in doubles at No. 8, while Musialek and Rossi are No. 45 in doubles.
UK is fresh off a strong showing in the 2012 SEC Tournament, advancing to the finals of the event for the second consecutive season. Kentucky defeated ranked foes No. 40 Vanderbilt and No. 13 Ole Miss in the event before falling to No. 2 Georgia in the finals. The Wildcats enter the NCAA tournament off a strong regular season where it claimed the SEC Championship with an 11-0 record in league play. UK posted 24 wins during the season, tying a school record for most regular-season wins. Kentucky went 14-1 at home this season, taking its record to 60-10 at home since the start of the 2009 season.
Indiana enters the event ranked 27th in the nation in the latest ITA team rankings. The Hoosiers are coming off a loss in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals to highly ranked Ohio State. IU has one ranked singles player in No. 79 Josh MacTaggart and one ranked doubles team in No. 77 Isade Juneau and Jeremy Langer. UK and IU played each other once this season with Kentucky defeating the Hoosiers 7-0 in Lexington.
For the second consecutive season Louisville will make its way to Lexington for tournament action. The Cardinals were the No. 2 seed in last year’s Lexington Regional, falling to the Wildcats in the second round. U of L will be the three seed in this year’s regional after winning the Big East Conference Tournament two weeks ago in Tampa, Fla. The Cardinals are ranked 37th in the nation as a team.
Radford University is the fourth seed in the regional after winning the Big South Tournament title this season for the fifth time in the last six years. The Highlanders enter the event with a 20-5 record and ranked 75th nationally. Radford has one singles player ranked in No. 121 Nick Sayer.
photo by Gary Moyers
Major General Lonnie Culver, Deputy Adjutant General for the Kentucky National Guard, presents Larry Vaught with a framed certificate naming Vaught an Honorary Guardsman during the Commander’s Update Briefing April 26 in Frankfort at Kentucky National Guard headquarters. Maj. Gen. Culver said it was only the second time he’d presented the award, and it was given to Vaught because of his contributions to the Guard’s community outreach programs. Vaught is the long-time sports editor for The Advocate Messenger and editor of vaughtsviews.com. (Posted by Gary Moyers – gotcha again, Larry!)
15 CommentsLEXINGTON, Ky. — The No. 1 LSU Tigers plated two runs in the first inning and got a strong starting pitching performance from ace Kevin Gausman, posting a 5-4 win over No. 2 Kentucky in the series opener, LSU’s eighth consecutive win, on a gorgeous Friday night in front of a season-best 3,785 at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
Kentucky (33-6, 11-5 Southeastern Conference) suffered the series-opening loss for the third time in five SEC weekends. The Wildcats allowed LSU to jump out to an early lead in the first inning with two runs on two hits and two UK errors, adding a run in the fourth and breaking up the 3-3 tie with two, two-out runs in the top of the fifth. After falling in the series opener in three of its last four weekends, Kentucky has rallied to win the series with wins in the final two games.
The one-run loss was just the third in UK’s 14 one-run games in 2012, as the Wildcats own a 11-3 record in 2012 in one-run tilts. The Wildcats also dropped to 9-5 in games played against top-25 foes, with the Tigers entering the series as a consensus top-five team, ranked as high as No. 1 by Collegiate Baseball. With the win, LSU takes a one-game lead in the SEC standings as the two clubs entered the series opener tied atop the standings.
The five runs would be all Gausman (7-1) would need in his 10th start of the year. The flame-throwing LSU right-hander won his league-leading seventh game of the year. He worked seven strong innings, allowing a season-high 10 hits and four runs, walking one and striking out 11. Chris Cotton took over for Gausman to start the eighth, working a shutout eighth inning, before closer Nick Goody struck out the side in the ninth inning for his sixth save of the year.
UK starter Taylor Rogers (4-2) suffered the loss after allowing eight hits and five runs – three earned – walking two and striking out four in six innings. The quality start was his fourth of the year and the 15th of his two-year career. He was replaced to start the seventh by freshman Chandler Shepherd, who tossed three shutout innings in his second SEC appearance, striking out three and allowing only two hits.
UK was led offensively by a 10-hit attack, with Zac Zellers leading the club with a 3-for-4 game with one RBI. Cameron Flynn added a 2-for-4 game with a RBI and a double, while UK also got doubles from Thomas McCarthy and Cameron Flynn. Michael Williams added a hit and two RBI.
The series will resume on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET at Cliff Hagan Stadium. The game will be televised live on the UK IMG Network, with Dick Gabriel, Doug Flynn and Brian Milam calling the action. Fans can see the game live on Fox Sports South regionally, in Lexington on CWKYT-TV and in Louisville on WYMO-TV. The game will also be broadcast live on the UK IMG Radio, with Neil Price calling the action. Fans in Central Kentucky can hear the game live on WLAP 630-AM, in Louisville on WKJK 1080-AM and online at UKathletics.com.
Shelby Hinton
Vaught’s note: Shelby Hilton, 18, of St. Petersburg, Fla., is a freshman gymnast at the University of Kentucky and communications broadcasting major. She takes a look at the way student athletes are viewed on campus as well as sharing a few of her career dreams and aspirations.
By SHELBYÂ HILTON
Student athletes feel like they are sometimes poorly represented. Many people think they walk around on campus owning the place, not having to attend class and have tutors that write their papers. Life of a college athlete is a lot of work. Student athletes have the same amount of homework like a normal college student plus four hours of practice five days a week. When they have to travel for a sporting event, they do not get the weekends. Student athletes are busy 24/7 and have people watching them like a hawk, making sure they are in class and have all their homework complete.
Gymnast Kayla Sienkowski, a sophomore, thinks that it is not hard to manage academics. It is not hard to her because it is mandatory to get your study hall hours in and have tutors to help them with their homework. She has to get a 3.0 GPA or above to stay out of trouble and study hall hours. Managing her time is not a problem. She has been use to managing her time ever since she started gymnastics. Sienkowski had also explained to me that she gets absolutely no free time. Her weeks and weekends consist of class, gymnastics, tutors and studying.
I am on the gymnastics team here at the University of Kentucky. I wanted to investigate on what life is like to other students about student athletes. Danielle Develle, sophomore, thinks that all the athletes are full of themselves. “They do not work hard like the rest of us; everything is just given to them,†Develle said.
Student athletes are given many stereotypes around campus. Another athlete, Holly Cunningham, thinks that a lot of athletes do portray a bad reputation for them. “Some are just immature and don’t know how to respect other people,†said Cunningham.
Student athletes want to have a good reputation around campus and let other students know it is not all what they think. It comes down to tremendous hours of homework and dedicating your week and weekends to your sport. You have to stay on top of your grades and not let them slip; otherwise you have a great chance of having your scholarship taken away.
For many athletes, this is a gift they are given. Not all athletes are smart enough academically to get into a university or a prestigious school. Having a scholarship is the only way they can do it and even afford it. This gives them a great opportunity and a great future to reflect on.
Being an athlete you want to have a job that has something to do with sports because that is what you know. A popular job many athletes want to have is to become a sports broadcaster. That is the biggest dream of mine. Ever since I was little, I would sit in front of the camera and pretend I was on air talking to thousands of people about gymnastics. I feel this would be a great job for me because I have dedicated my life to gymnastics since I was 4 years old.
I am great with managing time and I am never late. This is important when you become a sports broadcaster because if they don’t have you they don’t have someone to tell the stories. They also want people who are very familiar with each sport. Being a sport broadcast I would emphasize what athletes really go through and how they live their life once they become a college athlete. It takes determination, dedication and discipline.
Larry, thank you for all the hard work you have done to keep the BBN informed on all things Big Blue.
I appreciate and I know the rest of the readers of your blog appreciate the truthfulness and the integrity and ethics you show in your postings.
We all enjoy the stories on the players, their families and the pre-game and after game posts.
The stories written by fans adds another element to your site. Â We are allowed to express ourselves in these stories and in the comments sections.
We all feel much closer to the program because of you efforts to keep us up to date.
From your biggest fan and probably one of the biggest fans of the Kentucky Wildcats, thank you and Happy Birthday!
Keep up the good work!
Livin’ Blue & Lovin’ It!
Linda S
Vaughtsviews.com is back up and running at full speed now, and we appreciate your patience. By way of explanation, we first went down Sunday afternoon when a malicious piece of code hit us, then we had another outage this morning for a couple of hours due to problems on our host server that affected numerous sites along with vaughtsviews. But those issues are now resolved, and we’re hoping there will be no more problems!
Again, thank you for your understanding. (by Gary Moyers)
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