Kentucky men’s tennis in NCAA Elite Eight. Here’s the Wildcats’ path to a title.
Eight schools remain in the fight for the 2024 NCAA men’s tennis championship, and there is no easy path to the title for Kentucky.
In a tournament that opened last week with 64 teams, the Elite Eight are truly the elite. The top eight seeds at the start are the same eight in Stillwater, Oklahoma, to determine a champion this weekend.
To get this far, No. 5 seed Kentucky beat unseeded DePaul and Illinois before taking out No. 12 seed Harvard.
On Thursday at 2:30 p.m. EDT, the Wildcats (27-2) will face No. 4 Texas Christian (25-4) for a spot in the Final Four.
“Naturally, we’re very excited to be here,” UK coach Cedric Kauffmann said Tuesday. “If you’d asked me in August if we’d be here I know it would be a tough task, but the boys have worked really, really hard through the year and, after looking at it and who they are, after learning a lot about my freshmen, I think we deserve to be here and we’re ready for the challenge.”
Thursday’s other national quarterfinals feature No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 8 Columbia at noon, No. 2 Texas vs. No. 7 Tennessee at 5 p.m., and No. 3 Virginia vs. No. 6 Wake Forest at 7:30 p.m.
The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday and the championship match for Sunday. The Kentucky-TCU winner takes on the Ohio State-Columbia victor.
Virginia is the two-time defending champion.
Thursday’s Elite Eight matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
