UK senior Jesse Witten collected his ninth win in his last 10 matches, and junior Alex Hume picked up his third-consecutive victory, but No. 7 Florida held off a Wildcat rally to win by a 5-2 count Sunday at Florida?s Ring Tennis Complex.

Florida (9-4, 4-0) captured the doubles point and assumed a 3-0 lead after straight-set singles wins at the three and two positions, respectively. Hume cut into the deficit with a straight-set win over Nestor Briceno at the fourth position, but the Gators? Chris Brandi held off UK?s Tigran Martirosyan in a lengthy three-set match to clinch the match.

UK?s Witten rallied from one set down to defeat Florida?s Hamid Mirzadeh in a third-set tiebreaker totaling 26 points between the two players. Kentucky?s Marcus Sundh won his first set against UF?s Ryan Sherry and fought through a bout with leg cramps through the remaining two sets before falling at the sixth singles position.

Kentucky (9-5, 1-3) returns to the courts next Tuesday, Mar. 22 against Murray State and Eastern Kentucky.

No. 7 Florida 5, No. 28 Kentucky 2

Doubles
1. Mirzadeh/Oullette (UF) def. No. 19 Martirosyan/Witten (UK) ? 8-5
2. Brandi/Obradovic (UF) def. Emery/Sundh (UK) ? 8-5
3. Emge/Hume (UK) def. Dolberg/Sherry (UK) ? 8-5
Singles
1. No. 6 Jesse Witten (UK) def. No. 41 Hamid Mirzadeh (UF) ? 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (12)
2. No. 78 Vlad Obradovic (UF) def. Matt Emery (UK) ? 6-0, 7-6 (4)
3. No. 29 Greg Oullette (UF) def. Nate Emge (UK) ? 6-3, 6-0
4. No. 94 Alex Hume (UK) def. Nestor Briceno (UK) ? 6-1, 7-6 (4)
5. No. 51 Chris Brandi (UF) def. Tigran Martirosyan (UK) ? 7-5, 3-6, 6-4
6. Ryan Sherry (UF) def. Marcus Sundh (UK) ? 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4