April 7, 2002

The 9th-ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis team fell to the No. 17 Auburn Tigers on Sunday, April 7, in Auburn, Ala., while closing out its last complete weekend of Southeastern Conference action. The Cats fall to 14-8, 5-5 SEC, while Auburn moves to 13-5, 7- SEC with the conference upset.

The Cats found themselves down early after dropping the doubles point with losses on the first and second courts.

Senior co-captain, Gustav Pousette, tallied the lone UK point with a powerful straight set victory over Auburn’s Mark Kovacs at No. 4. The Tigers grabbed victories on the first three courts to secure the 4-1 defeat of the Cats. Jesse Witten and Evan Austin dropped their matches in straight sets, while Karim Benmansour fought back from a first set shutout to split sets with AU’s Andrew Colombo. Colombo rallied back from being down 5-2 in the final set to clinch the victory for Auburn.

“This was a disappointing weekend for our program”, Coach Dennis Emery said, ” but anytime you travel like this and especially in this conference, you never know what to expect. These guys gave it their all and right now that’s all that matters. We just have to move on and concentrate on our remaining matches.”

Kentucky will take a break from SEC competition when they play host to Bowling Green and Eastern Kentucky University in a doubleheader set for Wednesday, April 10. The first match against Bowling Green will begin at 2 p.m. followed by the evening match at 7 p.m. Both matches will take place at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex on the UK campus and will be played outside if weather permits. Admission is free.

AGATE:
Singles
No. 1Rameez Junaid (AU) def. Jesse Witten (UK) 6-4,7-5
No. 2Andrew Colombo (AU) def. Karim Benmansour (UK) 6-0,4-6,7-6(2)
No. 3Tiago Ruffoni (AU) def. Evan Austin (UK) 6-1,6-2
No. 4Gustav Pousette (UK) def. Mark Kovacs (AU)6-0,6-4
No. 5Johan Grunditz (UK0 vs. Mark Van Elden (AU)SUS.
No. 6Rahim Esmail (UK) vs. Estevam Strecker (AU)SUS.

Doubles
No. 1Junaid.Ruffoni (AU) def. Austin/Benmansour (UK)8-6
No. 2Colombo/Kovacs (AU) def. Grundtiz/Pousette (UK)8-6
No. 3Esmail/Witten (UK) vs. Strecker/Boz (AU)SUS.