LEXINGTON, Ky. – Returning to the Boone for its first home match in nearly a month, No. 28 Kentucky (7-3, 0-0 SEC) will open its SEC championship defense on Monday, February 24, taking on No. 26 Mississippi State (11-1, 1-0 SEC) at Noon ET at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex.

Kentucky returns to Lexington after a 1-2 weekend at the 2025 ITA Indoor National Championships in Dallas, defeating host SMU while falling to No. 19 NC State and No. 14 Texas A&M. Despite the team losses, Antoine Ghibaudo and Jaden Weekes each picked up ranked singles wins and Jack Loutit moved to 7-0 on the singles court in the dual season. Ghibaudo and Charlelie Cosnet were undefeated on the weekend in doubles and now hold a five-match win streak.

Four players feature in this week’s ITA Singles rankings, led by No. 66 Weekes. No. 69 Ghibaudo, No. 81 Loutit, and No. 121 Cosnet round out the quartet of Cats, making Kentucky one of only eight schools in the country to feature at least four ranked singles players.

The Wildcats enter the 2025 conference season as the defending SEC regular season champions and two-time defending SEC Tournament champions. In the past 694 days—since April 2, 2023—Kentucky has not lost a match in SEC regular season or tournament competition. The Cats swept through the 2023 SEC Tournament, went 12-0 in regular season action in 2024, and also defended their tournament title a season ago. The only blemish to SEC competition in that period came in a defeat to Alabama in the 2024 ITA Kickoff Weekend.

Mississippi State enters Monday’s matinee after knocking off No. 16 Tennessee, 4-3, in their conference opener on Saturday. The Bulldogs also feature four ranked singles players—No. 65 Benito Sanchez Martinez, No. 67 Petar Jovanovic, No. 85 Mario Martinez Serrano, and No. 115 Niccolo Barroni. MSU also boasts ranked doubles teams in No. 10 Sanchez Martinez/Jovanovic and No. 29 Barroni/Martinez Serrano.

The two teams share a pair of common opponents, with each school holding a win over Memphis and a loss to NC State. Kentucky leads the all-time series 34-24, including victories in the last five meetings. A season ago, the sixth-ranked Cats earned a 5-2 victory over No. 15 Mississippi State in Starkville.

All home matches will be played at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex, and admission is free to the public for all regular season contests. A live stream will be provided for all home matches on UKAthletics.com.

For the latest on UK Men’s Tennis, follow the Wildcats on X and Instagram at @UKMensTennis.