Kentucky tennis teams claim NCAA tourney berths

The University of Kentucky men’s and women’s tennis teams are headed to the NCAA Tournament.

The UK men, ranked No. 20 nationally, will open against Virginia Tech on May 14 at Ohio State University in Columbus.

The UK women, ranked No. 23, play their first match against Xavier on May 13 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The men will be making their 26th NCAA Tournament appearance; the women their 23rd.

The winner of Kentucky’s men’s match with Virginia Tech will take on the winner of Ohio State and Tennessee Tech in the tournament’s second round.

The winner of the UK-Xavier women’s match will play either Michigan or Ball State for a berth in the Sweet 16.

Kentucky’s men (19-9, 7-5 Southeastern Conference) come into the NCAA Tournament off a quarterfinals appearance in the SEC tourney. The Wildcats started the season unranked and wound up climbing into the Top 25.

The Wildcats are led by sophomore William Bushamuka, an All-SEC first-team selection, and Ryotaro Matsumura, the league’s co-freshman of the year. The top-50 ranking duo have played on the top two singles courts all season, combining for 34 wins including 17 against ranked singles opponents.

Virginia Tech (17-8) enters the regional as the 32nd-ranked team in the country. No. 4 Ohio State (30-2) is fresh off a Big Ten Tournament title. Tennessee Tech (15-6) beat Eastern Kentucky in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament to claim the league’s automatic NCAA bid

Kentucky’s women (17-9, 6-7 SEC) will be taking on Xavier (20-5) for the first time ever. The Musketeers won the Big East Conference’s automatic bid.

Ball State enters at 22-3. Michigan is 20-6.

UK is led by All-SEC first-team choice Aldila Sutjiadi and All-Freshman team selection Justina Mikulskyte.

This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 7:26 PM with the headline "Kentucky tennis teams claim NCAA tourney berths."