Jan. 23, 2002

– The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team opened up the dual match season on Jan. 23, 2002 playing host to Murray State at 2 p.m. and Morehead State at 7 p.m. The Cats took a 5-1 win over Murray State while holding Morehead State scoreless with a 6-0 victory. Due to the doubleheader, the teams elected to play singles first.

In the afternoon match-up, Kentucky clinched the match with wins at No. 2, 3, 5 and 6. Sophomore Rahim Esmail and junior Elliott Datlow took straight set victories over Murray State’s Zakaria Bohrii and Mike Schmidbauer at No. 5 and 6. Matt Emery started the match against MSU’s Alex Hoyem with some difficulties but rose to a 7-6 (3) tiebreak win in the first set and came back strong in the second for the victory. Freshman Evan Austin kept UK rolling with a powerful straight set win at No. 2. Senior Gustav Pousette, the only Wildcat to see three sets in a match, dropped his first against Alex Sundsten at No. 4., but kept his competitiveness to take 6-2 wins in the final two sets.

The Wildcats dominated over Morehead State in the evening finale, holding them scoreless with straight set victories in all six singles. Sophomore Karim Benmansour grabbed the win over Benjamin Schmid at No.1 with a 6-4 tally in both sets, while Esmail shut out Tomi Simola 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2. Pousette, Emery and Austin grabbed big wins over MSU at No. 3, 4 and 5. Datlow sealed the victory for Kentucky with his victory over Greg Dawkins.

“Our guys played hard today and got some great experience,” Coach Dennis Emery said. “Today helped to prepare us for the tough season ahead. I am proud of the way we competed today.”

The Wildcats begin the season 2-0 and will return to action on Sunday, Jan. 27 with another doubleheader as they host Western Kentucky University at 1 p.m. and Butler University at 5 p.m. Action takes place at the Hilary J Boone Tennis Complex on the UK campus and admission is free.

AGATE:Kentucky, 5 - Murray State, 1SinglesNo. 1Nikola Aracic (MSU) def. Johan Grunditz (UK)     6-4, 6-2No. 2Evan Austin (UK) def. Thiago Godim (MSU)         6-4, 7-6(4)No. 3 Matt Emery (UK) def. Alex Hoyem (MSU)            7-6(3), 6-4No. 4 Gustav Pousette (UK) def. Alex Sundsten (MSU)    4-6, 6-2, 6-2No. 5Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Zakaria Bohri (MSU)       6-0, 6-3No. 6Elliott Datlow (UK) def. Mike Schmidbauer (MSU)  6-4, 6-4

Kentucky, 6 – Morehead State, 0SinglesNo. 1Karim Benmansour (UK) def. Benjamin Schmid (MSU) 6-4, 6-4No. 2Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Tomi Simola (MSU) 6-0, 6-0No. 3Gustav Pousette (UK) def. Lahiru Jayasuria (MSU) 6-1, 6-0No. 4 Matt Emery (UK) def. Akihito Gido (MSU) 7-6(3), 6-2No. 5Evan Austin (UK) def. Alejandro Hernandez (MSU) 6-1, 6-1No. 6 Elliott Datlow (UK) def. Greg Dawkins (MSU) 6-4, 6-3