Feb. 9, 2002

The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team defeated Southeastern Conference rival, Tennessee, on Saturday Feb. 9 in consolation action of the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships. Kentucky improves to 7-2 on the season.

“The team is showing great drive and desire, they have a lot of heart to bounce back from back to back losses against UCLA after being within one point of upsetting the top ranked Bruins,” says Coach Dennis Emery.

“Our team is really enjoying competing right now, this is just the start to fulfilling our high expectations,” Rahim Esmail said of the team performance.

The fourth-ranked Volunteers took the doubles point with victories at No. 1 and 3. At No. 2, the UK tandem of Jesse Witten and Esmail took an 8-5 victory over Mario Toledo and Andy Crews.

Kentucky rallied back in the singles to take victories at No. 2, 3, 4 and 6. Tenth-ranked Witten took a powerful straight set victory at No. 2 against 14th-ranked Mario Toledo,6-3,6-4. At. No. 3 Evan Austin grabbed a strong win over 67th-ranked Mark Dietrich in consecutive sets to secure the Wildcat victory. Matt Emery took a straight set victory at No. 4 while Esmail grabbed a victory at No. 6 over Mark Henderson.

“We are finally beginning to realize how good of a team we are and that we have the capability of beating any team we step on the court against,” said Emery after the match.

Witten reflected on his tournament performance, “I felt like I did my best to help the team win and it will pay off for us down the road.”

After the match junior Elliott Datlow summed up his thoughts by saying, “We are starting out with big wins, and we aren’t satisfied yet!”

The Cats will take a break from action until Feb. 23, when they travel to Naples, Fla. to face Florida Gulf Coast University.

Elsewhere in the tournament: In the final match, Illinois will face Stanford at 1p.m. at the Louisville Tennis Club. Illinois defeated top-ranked Georgia in the semifinal, 4-0, while Stanford defeated Southern California, 4-2.

AGATE:SinglesNo. 1 Adam Carey (UT) def. Karim Benmansour (UK)    6-2,6-3No. 2 Jesse Witten (UK) def. Mario Toledo (UT)           6-3,6-4No. 3 Evan Austin (UK) def. Mark Dietrich (UT)           6-4,6-4No. 4 Matt Emery (UK) def. Jake Olsen (UT)                6-2,6-4No. 5 Gustav Pousette (UK) Wade Orr (UT)                 SUS.No. 6 Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Mark Henderson            6-2,6-2DoublesNo. 1 Dietrich/Olsen (UT) def. Benmansour/Austin (UK)    9-7No. 2 Witten/Esmail (UK) def. Toledo/Crews (UT)            8-5No. 3 Carey/Henderson (UT) def. Pousette/Emery (UK)    8-5