From the beginning, it was a tough one for the Vols.

Tennessee men’s tennis traveled north as it faced rival Kentucky in Lexington on Saturday. They dropped 5-2 to the No. 53 Wildcats.

In doubles, Alejandro Moreno and Jose Garcia faced trouble from the very start. In danger of falling behind 0-2, they were able to successfully hold thesecond game from down 30-0. That would be the only game they would win as Martin Breysach and Charlelie Cosnet cruised to a 6-1 victory over the Vols.

Freshman Shion Itsusaki was paired with Ethan Muza for the day. After an early break, they couldn’t seem to get things under control. Nicolas Arseneault and Jaden Weekes for Kentucky handled their serve the rest of the way to defeat Itsusaki and Muza 6-4.

Similarly, Dragos Cazacu and Piotr Siekanowicz faced an uphill battle against Jack Loutit and Eli Stephenson. Kentucky’s duo is ranked No. 23 in the nation. After an early break, they tried to get back on serve. Ultimately, the match went unfinished after the ninth game.

Kentucky took the doubles to go up 1-0 in the match.

To open singles, the Vols’ top player, No. 58 Moreno, struggled with Kentucky’s No. 94 Arseneault. Moreno’s serve was nowhere near perfect for the day. The opening set was dominated by Arseneault, who shut out Moreno 6-0. Moreno faced a multitude of match points in the second set, which ended up being the best set played across all matches today. He was able to win the second set thriller in a tiebreak, 7(9)-6(7). Unfortunately, the third set took only one break for Arseneault to win the match, 6-0, 7(9)-6(7), 6-3.

Cazacu faced Kentucky’s highest-ranked player in Stephenson, who is ranked 16th. In the first set, he held his own. Cazacu won by a break to take the first set 6-3. Unfortunately, Stephenson dominated the second set 6-1, then won a third-set tie-break 6(7)-6(3).

The Vols’ Garcia faced No. 38 Loutit, where he dropped the first set by a break, 4-6. He flipped that result in the next set. In the third set, Garcia was able to get a break late to win the match 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Jan Kobierski did not play in doubles but rather faced No. 91 Cosnet. Kobierksi had a back-and-forth contest, but dropped both sets of the match by a break each. Cosnet won 6-4, 7-5.

Boruch Skierkier faced the Wildcats’ other Arseneault, Mikael. The brother of Nicolas defeated Skierkier in a third-set tiebreak. This was the second-longest match of the day. Skirerkier dominated the first set, but could not continue that success. He fell to Arseneault 6-1, 2-6, 0(10)-1(12) in a heartbreaker.

The flashy freshman Itsusaki continued his success as he took care of Matt Rankin in three sets. Itsusaki saw plenty of success with his serve early as he cruised to win the first set 6-2. Rankin battled hard to take the second set. In the end, it was Itsusaki winning in a nailbiter third-set tiebreak. The freshman star won 6-2, 2-6. 1(10)-0(8).

Tennessee men’s tennis will be back at it in Nashville on Monday against Vanderbilt.