Jan. 13, 2003

The Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings were released today by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and included four singles players and two doubles teams from the University of Kentucky. Sophomore Jesse Witten, who began last fall as the preseason No. 1 player in the country, dropped to No. 4 in the newest rankings of the 2002-03 season. Witten joins junior Rahim Esmail on UK’s highest-ranked doubles team (No. 41). Junior Karim Benmansour (No. 73), Esmail (No. 91) and sophomore Evan Austin (No. 100) make the singles list and the tandem of Austin and Benmansour (No. 56) show up in the doubles rankings.

Witten went 14-3 in the fall including nine wins over ranked opponents. He defeated No. 9 Bobby Reynolds from Vanderbilt to complete an undefeated run in the Region III Indoor Championships in October.

The top-ranked player in the newest rankings is Baylor’s Benedikt Dorsch, who closed out a successful fall by defeating Illinois’ Amer Delic at the Omni Hotels National Indoor Championships. Delic is at the No. 2 spot followed by Middle Tennessee’s Daniel Klemetz, who won the title at the Icy Hot/ITA All-American Championships in October. Witten claims a win over Klemetz at the Charles Fluitt Invitational in Lexington in September, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

The Wildcats will open their spring schedule when they travel to Atlanta, Ga., to compete in the SEC Indoor Championships, Jan. 16-19.

Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings

Singles

1. Benedikt Dorsch – Baylor
2. Amer Delic – Illinois
3. Daniel Klemetz – Middle Tennessee
4. Jesse Witten – Kentucky

5. Alex Vlaski – Washington
73. Karim Benmansour – Kentucky

91. Rahim Esmail – Kentucky

100. Evan Austin – Kentucky

Doubles

1. William Barker/Richard Barker – Rice
2. Michael Calkins/Amer Delic – Illinois
3. Scott Lipsky/David Martin – Stanford
4. Zoltan Csanadi/Izak Van Der Merve – Old Dominion
5. Lester Cook/Ante Matijevic – Texas A&M
41. Esmail/Witten – Kentucky
56. Austin/Benmansour – Kentucky

For complete rankings, visit www.itatennis.com.