No. 15 Kentucky took the doubles point and earned three singles victories to hold off No. 19 South Carolina by a 4-3 count Friday in Columbia, S.C. The Cats improve to 6-3 and 1-0 in the Southeastern Conference, while South Carolina drops to 10-2 and 0-1 in conference play.

The Cats started off on a high note by earning the doubles point with wins at numbers one and three. Senior Rahim Esmail and junior Jesse Witten scored an easy 8-2 victory at No. 1 over Marcus Westman and Tom Eklund, and senior Evan Austin and sophomore Alex Hume followed with a tough 9-7 win at No. 3 to clinch the point.

Witten tallied his fifth consecutive victory at No. 1 singles, defeating Westman by a 7-5, 6-0 count. Esmail scored a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 4 over Pedro Rodrigues and Austin fought through leg cramps to post a 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 triumph over Eklund to seal the Kentucky victory.

Kentucky wraps up its first weekend of conference play Sunday with a battle against No. 3 Florida in Lexington. The match is set for a 1 p.m. EST start at UK?s Boone Tennis Center.

AGATE:

Doubles

 1. Witten/Esmail (UK) def. Westman/Eklund (USC) - 8-2 2. Rodrigues/Knorr (USC) def. Emge/Martirosyan (UK) - 8-5 3. Hume/Austin (UK) def. Atkinson/Wermee (USC) - 9-7 

Singles 1. No. 14 Jesse Witten (UK) def. Marcus Westman (USC) – 7-5, 6-0 2. Evan Austin (UK) def. Tom Eklund (USC) – 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 3. Carl Wermee (USC) def. No. 56 Tigran Martirosyan (UK) – 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 4. Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Pedro Rodrigues (USC) – 6-2, 6-3 5. Geraldo Knorr (USC) def. Nate Emge (UK) – 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 6. Ben Atkinson (USC) def. Alex Hume (UK) – 1-6, 6-4, 6-4