With the hype surrounding the upcoming NBA draft, many UK fans may have overlooked last weekend’s NFL draft, a draft in which  three former Cats heard their name called by NFL franchises. Defensive lineman Corey Peters, defensive back Trevard Lindley and fullback John Conner each look to begin their professional career.

Corey Peters, Defensive Tackle, 6-foot-3/300 lbs, Third Round, Atlanta Falcons

Peters was chosen with the 83rd overall pick in the draft, the first UK player to go. At UK, Peters posted his best season in 2009, earning himself the Southeastern Conference Defensive Lineman of the Week award twice and second team All-SEC honors.

Peters is likely to start his NFL career as a rotational lineman in the Falcons’ 4-3 defense, but shows promise with his above-average footwork, instincts and field awareness. He is also an adequate pass rusher with the ability to collapse the pocket up the middle. This power can benefit Atlanta’s pass rush from the outside, most notably from their all-pro defensive end John Abraham.

One area scouts say Peters can improve is in his technique. If he shows he can progress his technique consistently from play to play, Peters has the ability to be a promising defender in the league.

Trevard Lindley, Cornerback, 5-foot-11/183 lbs, Fourth Round, Philadelphia Eagles

Lindley was a standout cover corner at UK. Regarded as a potential All-American candidate entering his senior season, injuries kept him off the field for much of the year. As a result, he fell to the 105th overall pick in the NFL draft.

Lindley excels in both man and zone coverage. He is quick and athletic and reacts exceptionally well in zone coverage. He has the ability to jump patterns in man coverage, which is something quarterbacks fear. While he is not a liability against the run, he has struggled with stopping the rush on the edges. The key, at least early in his career, will be durability.

Lindley will likely start the season as Philadelphia’s nickel corner, but if he can show he is fully recovered from the injuries he suffered last year, he has the opportunity to become a starter for the Eagles in a conference which boasts offensive excellence.

John Conner, Fullback, 5-foot-11/246 lbs, Fifth Round, New York Jets

When the Jets traded their playmaking running back Leon Washington for a 5th round pick, 139th overall, many fans watched and wondered what the Jets would do with the pick. They used it on Conner, who was regarded by many scouts as the best fullback in this year’s draft.

Conner is an old-school fullback, who loves to play physically and block defenders for runners behind him. His one liability is catching passes out of the backfield, although he showed improvements in that area in his senior season.

He will join the NFL’s No.1 rushing offense, including returning playmaker Shonn Green, who made a statement in last year’s playoffs, and the newly arrived, record-holding running back LaDanian Tomlinson.

Conner will likely sit behind all-pro fullback Tony Richardson to begin his career.

With a top-10 ranking, home-court advantage and a first round bye, the last thing the UK men’s tennis team expected to see was the two-time defending conference champions in the Southeastern Conference tournament. But that’s exactly who they saw on the other side of the net when the Mississippi Rebels took the courts of the Hillary J. Boone Tennis Center. After a long, competitive match, the Cats fell to the Rebels 4-0. Along with the loss fell the hopes of a conference title.

“I thought the first time we played Ole Miss we were much more aggressive, both on the court and emotionally,” UK head coach Dennis Emery said. “This time we let Ole Miss come to us. We didn’t handle being the favorites well and that caught the coaches off guard.”

Ole Miss began by sweeping both doubles matches, including taking down the nation’s No. 25 doubles pair in Brad Cox and Eric Quigley. Quigley’s luck didn’t improve as the match transitioned to singles play. UK’s top player, and the No. 13 player in the nation, lost for the first time in the month of April to Marcel Thiemann 6-4, 6-2.

“I can’t speak for one of my guys, but I’m sure (Eric Quigley) was disappointed,” Emery said. “One thing I love about Eric is he has so much character, and he has the ability to bounce back from losses well. So I know he will bounce back.”

The 19th-ranked Rebels stayed on the attack in the other matches as well.

UK junior Brad Cox fell in No. 3 singles 6-1, 6-4. In a tiebreaker, UK’s lone senior, Alex Lambropoulos, fell 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) in No. 6 singles to seal the Cats’ fate.

“I don’t know where the loss ranks in my career, but it certainly ranks outside of the top ten,” 28th-year head coach Emery said. “I knew it would be a close match. You always want to win in front of your home fans, but I knew it was going to be a tough match for us.”

Next for UK is the NCAA tournament, which begins on May 14. The Cats’ will learn their tournament fate on May 4 when the entire field is announced.

While UK believes it will make the field, its tournament opponent and seeding are yet to be determined.  The goal is to reach the NCAA team championships, beginning May 21, and to send players from UK to the individual championships, beginning May 26.

Emery plans on using the Ole Miss loss as a teaching tool for his team, as well as a motivational tool to prepare his team for its biggest matches of the season.

“I think the loss was a good wake up call,” Emery said. “We hadn’t taken a loss in a while, having won 12 out of our last 13 matches going into the conference tournament. For us to win regionals and reach the final 16, we will eventually face a team similar to Ole Miss, and we can’t let that team attack us like Ole Miss did. It’s as good a learning tool as any, and it’s better to have learned it now than to learn it at the NCAAs.”

Last fall, Alabama and Florida led the way for the Southeastern Conference, holding the top two spots in the coaches’ poll almost the entire season. But the SEC’s depth doesn’t stop there. Louisiana State and UK are all ranked in the top 10, and they’ll all face off this weekend in Lexington for the conference tournament.

“There is some great competition,” UK head coach Dennis Emery said. “The SEC is the top conference in the country every year. The great thing is with the non-conference schedule we played, we saw eight top-10 teams this season, so we know what it looks like.”

UK, despite being ranked No. 8 in the nation with a 23-7 record earned the fourth seed in the SEC Tournament. On Friday, the Cats will face the winner of the Ole Miss-South Carolina opening round matchup.

If UK advances past the quarterfinals, it will likely face the top-seeded Tennessee Volunteers, who finished the regular season 23-1, including a perfect 11-0 record in conference play. But UK is focusing on its first opponent.

“We will have no problems with preparing for Ole Miss,” Emery said. “We beat them earlier this season for the first time since 2002. Ole Miss is one of the elite programs in the country and the players realize it. Unless we act like complete idiots, we should have no problems focusing on them.”

The second-seeded Florida Gators (17-3, 9-1 SEC) and the third-seeded Georgia Bulldogs (17-6, 9-2 SEC) also pose big tests for the Cats. This season, UK was a perfect 8-0 in conference against teams behind it in the conference standings. But against the top three teams in the conference, Tennessee, Florida and Georgia, the Cats could not manage a single win.

“We were five-all, love-30 against Florida and had four match points against Georgia,” Emery said. “So we were two points away from being 10-1 in the conference. We are trying to continue to get better. The way we beat those teams this time is to be a little better at the end of matches.”

But the SEC Tournament gives the Cats a chance at redemption, and a chance to gain some revenge after those close matches earlier in the year.

“Our guys really like each other, and really like playing together,” Emery said. “The camaraderie our guys have means a lot at the end of the year.”

By Ethan Levine

It was just the type of match you would expect to see between two Southeastern Conference rivals. Two highly ranked teams, three top-50 players, five end-of-set tiebreakers, and a season’s worth of emotion all packed into UK’s 7-0 victory over Vanderbilt at the Hillary J. Boone Tennis Center Saturday.

“We played very well against Vanderbilt, especially at the end of sets,” said UK head coach Dennis Emery, now in his 28th year. “Vanderbilt is a very good team and very tough to beat, the win was a real testament to our mental toughness.”

The match was the season finale for UK, now ranked No. 8 in the nation, as well as Vanderbilt, ranked No. 31. The excitement started at the top in the No. 1 singles match between the Cats’ Eric Quigley and Vanderbilt’s Ryan Lipman. Both players are the top players on their respective squads, as well as top-50 nationally with Quigley coming into the match at No. 11 and Lipman ranking No. 30.

After winning the first set 6-3, Quigley went into a second set tiebreaker with Lipman, which ended with Quigley prevailing 7-3, and claiming the set overall 7-6. The Cats’ top player remains undefeated in the month of April as he continues to lead the team’s charge into the postseason.

UK’s other top-50 player, Alex Musialek, needed a first set tiebreaker of his own to win his No. 2 singles match 7-6 (7-5), 6-2. UK also went on to win their other four singles matches, requiring two more tiebreakers and a marathon 17-game third set in the No. 6 singles match, which was eventually won by UK’s Alex Lambropoulos 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 10-7.

In doubles, UK won two of three matches, the third of which went unfinished. Winners included the No. 23 doubles pair in the nation, Quigley and Brad Cox, as well as UK’s unique all-French doubles tandem of Alex Musialek and Anthony Rossi.

The Cats now adjust their focus from the regular season, which finished with a seven-match win streak, to the SEC Tournament, which will be played in Lexington starting Thursday and running through Sunday. The conference currently contains four, top-10 teams, including UK.

Emery enters the tournament understanding what he and his team are up against.

“We have had a good year, and we have played well at home,” Emery said. “Outside of the NCAA tournament, the SEC tournament is one of the best tournaments in the country. Everybody comes in thinking they have a chance, so it is going to be very tough. We have a lot of momentum having won 12 of our last 13 matches, so hopefully we can continue to play with that same focus and sense of purpose.”

Five UK athletes found themselves visiting an orphanage during their unconventional Spring Break trip to Nicaragua.

UK football players Jacob Lewellen and Marcus Davis; volleyball players Ann Armes and Sarah Rumley; and women’s soccer player Laura Novikoff all made the trip to the Central American country. The trip was made possible through Athletes in Action, an international Christian sports ministry program.

While in Nicaragua, the athletes spent the bulk of their time at an orphanage, participating in games and getting to know some of the kids, an experience that moved Lewellen, a freshman defensive end, the most during his stay in Nicaragua.

“To me, what stood out the most was the fact that these kids are so hurt on the inside, but they put on a smile and cling to the people that come out, and they really attach to them. They show you love and they wear a smile even though they’re hurting,” Lewellen said, “It’s really re-enforcing to yourself to say that you can come back to the states and nothing that we’re experiencing here is as bad as what they’re experiencing (in Nicaragua).

“We should always have a smile on our face for the opportunities we have here … I really saw how it impacted me when I got back and now I look at life a lot differently.”

Like Lewellen, Davis, a junior center  and three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll student, was encouraged the most by the relationships he formed with the kids at the orphanage.

“I would have to say (what that stood out most) was how great it was to connect with the kids. The kids were able to trust and befriend us; they really wanted to be with us,” Davis said. “I think it would have been easy for them to say that these are just more visitors. But instead, they genuinely wanted to be around us.”

Along with the experience, Davis said he made a new friend at the orphanage during his stay.

“I made a pretty good friend down there, a kid by the name of Ayuhendo,” he said. “He showed me a lot about his culture and just the things they do to have fun. It was fun and it was great, I loved hanging out with him. If I could go back and hang out with him and see him again that would be great. And if not, I hope he’s blessed with whatever he’s doing.”

When asked if he would go back to Nicaragua or visit another developing country, Lewellen gave a clear-cut answer: Yes.

“I would definitely go back, and if not to Nicaragua then to any other place,” Lewellen said.  “I got the hunger to see other places in developing areas and to see how they can impact my life as much as I can impact their lives.”

From Paris, Ky., to Paris, France, the game of tennis translates into any language. Nowhere is this more relevant than on UK’s men’s tennis team.

The French connection begins at the top with fifth-year associate head coach Cedric Kauffmann. Kauffmann came to the U.S. at age 14 to play tennis at the Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida, a prestigious training ground that has trained the likes of Maria Sharapova, Andre Agassi, and Venus and Serena Williams. After four years at the academy, Kauffmann played tennis for UK from 1994-98.

“I love the city of Lexington,” Kauffmann said. “I love the people I work for; it is a good place to have a good team.”

Now, UK has two more Frenchmen in sophomore Alex Musialek and freshman Anthony Rossi. Both players credit much of their decision to come to UK to Kauffmann.

“We look at players from everywhere — first in America and then outside,” Kauffmann said. “I looked where I have connections, and of course, one of those places is France. I know big coaches in France, the players e-mailed me back and now they are here.”

When asked what his favorite part about coaching Musialek and Rossi was, Kauffmann said he knows French and American players are coached differently.

“I have spent as much time in France as I have in America, so I recognize what the players need and what they like and dislike,” Kauffmann said.
Musialek, who hails from Dax, France, said when he first got to UK, he couldn’t speak any English.

“I came here and couldn’t speak English,” Musialek said. “But Cedric really helped me learn English and build my confidence. I didn’t know anything about UK before I got here, but Cedric really helped me.”

Musialek said there are many differences between the French and American cultures that took some getting used to.

“In general, people here are friendlier,” Musialek said. “You can walk down the street and people will say hello to you, even if you don’t know them. That doesn’t happen in France. I was also surprised at the fact that people here really care about their sports. The French like their sports, but people here are really passionate.”

Rossi, a freshman from Martigues, is still adjusting to the culture and improving his English, and said it helps to have Kauffmann, as well as Musialek, around to help him settle.

“Speaking English is tough,” Rossi said. “I am living in a new system for me.”

When asked if they missed anything from home, including friends and family, both quickly said the food at home was much better.

One thing that helps comfort Musialek and Rossi is when they play doubles together. As doubles partners, the two have experienced a lot of success together.

“We can speak French on the court and no one can understand us,” Rossi said. “I played doubles once with Eric Quigley, but I like playing with Alex better. We are always together.”

Musialek and Rossi agreed they have more opportunities in the U.S. and at UK than they did in France.

“It helps to have someone from your native country to speak to if you get homesick. But I never get homesick here,” Musialek said. “I like fighting for UK.”

“For sure when I came here, it was because of the French people here at UK,” Rossi said. “When I talk to my friends in France, I try and get them to come here. Life is much better here.”