The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team lost a heartbreaker to Ohio State onWednesday, Feb. 14, as the Wildcats were downed 4-3 in their home dual-match opener.

The Cats (5-3, 0-0 Southeastern Conference) lost the doubles point after losing closematches at No. 1 and No. 2. Junior Johan Grunditz and freshman Karim Benmansour lost a tightmatch to the Buckeye duo of Derek DeFalco and Bob Wellstein, 8-5. Senior Edo Bawono andjunior Reven Stephens also dropped a tough match, falling to OSU’s Jonathon Scale and AndrewCarlson, 8-6. Junior Gustav Pousette and freshman Matt Emery, playing together for the first time,held off strong opposition by Chris Porter and Phil Metz to grab the win, 8-5.

Kentucky rallied to start singles, taking victories in the No. 1-3 positions as Bawono led theway, knocking out 43rd-ranked Phil Metz, 6-2, 7-6 (4), while Emery grabbed a straight-set victoryover Porter at the No. 2 position. Pousette fought hard to overcome a grueling first-set tiebreak lossto take the match with 6-3 and 6-1 closing sets. Kentucky faced a tough match at No. 4 as Grunditzclaimed a first-set 6-4 victory before dropping the final two sets to Carlson, while freshman RahimEsmail struggled at No. 5 and was defeated by UK Winterslam runner-up Vince Ng.

In the determining final match, Benmansour faced Wellstein and got off to a fast start,dominating the first set, 6-1. Wellstein rallied to take the second in what became anemotionally-charged battle. Benmansour jumped out to a 4-2 final-set lead but after a series ofreviewed points, was mentally off-balance and dropped the set 6-4, giving OSU the victory.

The Cats return to action on Saturday, Feb. 17 when they play host to the No. 27 Notre DameFighting Irish. The match is set to begin at 3 p.m., a change from the previously scheduled time, atthe Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex on the UK campus.

AGATE

Singles
No. 1 Edo Bawono (UK) def. Phil Metz (OSU) 6-2, 7-6 (4)
No. 2 Matt Emery (UK) def. Chris Porter (OSU) 6-3, 6-4
No. 3 Gustav Pousette (UK) def. Adrian Bohane (OSU) 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1
No. 4 Andrew Carlson (OSU) def. Johan Grunditz (UK) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
No. 5 Vince Ng (OSU) def. Rahim Esmail (UK) 6-2, 6-1
No. 6 Bob Wellstein (OSU) def. Karim Benmansour (UK) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4

Doubles
No. 1 DeFalco/Wellstein (OSU) def. Grunditz/Benmansour (UK) 8-5
No. 2 Scale/Carlson (OSU) def. Bawono/Stephens (UK) 8-6
No. 3 Pousette/Emery (UK) def. Porter/Metz (OSU) 8-5