Tulsa Falls to #14 Kentucky at ITA Kick-Off, 4-2

Friday, January 27

Stillwater, Okla.

12 p.m.

Tulsa

Kentucky

Tulsa Falls to #14 Kentucky at ITA Kick-Off, 4-2

1/27/2017 3:00:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Riley Ubben

STILLWATER, Okla. – The University of Tulsa Men's Tennis team took the doubles point to start the day against No. 14-ranked Kentucky at the ITA Kick-Off at the Greenwood Tennis Center, but wound up dropping the match 4-2.

Tulsa (4-3 overall) earned the doubles point and a 1-0 lead heading into the start of singles play as they won both of the completed matches. Okkie Kellerman and Dominic Bechard jumped out to a 3-0 lead over William Bushamuka and Beck Pennington en route to a 6-4 win before Majed Kilani and Or Ram-Harel beat Nils Ellefsen and Gus Benson 7-5. The Hurricane have won the doubles point in six out of seven attempts in 2017.

Ram-Harel's success on the day continued in singles with a strong showing against No. 23 Bushamuka. No. 46 Ram-Harel opened with a 6-0 shutout win in the first set before falling behind 3-1 in the second set. The Tulsa senior put together another run, winning five straight games to close out the match and give the Hurricane a 2-1 lead in the dual.

Down 3-2 to Kentucky after the completion of four singles match, Bechard and Daniel Santos each pushed their match to a third set to give Tulsa a chance at the win. Bechard held a 3-2 lead over Pennington in the third set before dropping the next four games as Kentucky got the win.

The Hurricane will wrap up ITA Kick-Off Weekend play tomorrow at noon against either Oklahoma State or Columbia.

Singles
1. #46 Ram-Harel (TU) def. #23 William Bushamuka (UK) 6-0, 6-3
2. #17 Ryotaro Matsumura (UK) def. Majed Kilani (TU) 6-4, 6-3
3. Beck Pennington (UK) def. Dominic Bechard (TU) 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-3
4. Nils Ellefsen (UK) def. Okkie Kellerman (TU) 6-3, 6-4
5. #110 Trey Yates (UK) def. Mitchell Pritchard (TU) 6-4, 7-6 (5)
6. Daniel Santos (TU) vs. Jake Stefanik (UK) 7-5, 1-6, 2-2, unfinished

Doubles
1. Okkie Kellerman/Dominic Bechard (TU) def. William Bushamuka/Beck Pennington (UK) 6-4
2. Or Ram-Harel/Majed Kilani (TU) def. Nils Ellefsen/Gus Benson (UK) 7-5
3. Daniel Santos/Jarod Hing (TU) vs. Ryotaro Matsumura/Trey Yates (UK) 6-6, unfinished

For all Tulsa men's tennis news and information, visit TulsaHurricane.com. Follow Tulsa Men's Tennis on Twitter and Facebook.

PDF Results